It has been over a year since Xbox first introduced age verification in the United Kingdom as an opt-in service to comply with the UK Online Safety Act. The initiative became mandatory in the region in early 2026, then expanded to a handful of other countries, including Australia last month – it’s also active in Brazil and Singapore to comply with local regulations.

For users with long-standing Xbox accounts, however, age verification may now be completed automatically. In other words, no need for methods such as facial age estimation or uploading a proof-of-age document. Much like Discord’s problematic age verification system, there has been backlash, but the automatic system will certainly come as a relief for gamers.

Update to age verification status on Xbox

Reports of automated age verification began to surface last month, and it seems the company is rolling out another wave of emails, at least in the United Kingdom. The email below was sent today, upgrading my personal Xbox account to “Verified” status as an adult account.

Due to your longstanding XBOX account activity, we’ve estimated your XBOX profile to be an adult account and updated its age verification status to “Verified.” You are no longer required to complete full age verification for uninterrupted access to social features on XBOX.

Xbox has not provided any specific amount of time for which accounts are deemed “longstanding,” but this specific account has existed for a long time, since the Xbox 360 days, so it’s easy to see why it has been automatically approved. Anyone with a relatively old Xbox account registered in one of the affected regions should look out for the same email moving forward.

Based on this, it seems Xbox is automatically applying the ‘adult’ status to any Xbox account that is old enough, though we cannot confirm if this is the case or not. A date of birth should also be tied to your Microsoft account, but this is easily changeable and therefore less reliable as proof of age.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.