The EU age verification app is a Commission blueprint for proving you are over 18 online without revealing who you are. Member states customise it as a standalone app or build it into their EU Digital Identity Wallet, and a Commission recommendation of April 2026 asks them to make it available by the end of 2026.
EU initiativeReviewed 7 October 2026
Inside the wallet, which belongs to the user and is under their control.
Issuer
Signs credentials: a member state, university, bank or employer
Issuance
EUDI Wallet
Belongs to the user, who decides what to share
Presentation
Relying party
The service that requests and checks the data
Trust layer: who is allowed to sign, and is it still valid?
Rules: the law and technical framework behind it all
The user verifies their identity once, with an eID, passport or identity card, and receives proofs of age that contain no identity data. When a website asks, the app presents a proof that only confirms the user is over 18. Proofs are issued in batches for one-time use so separate visits cannot be linked, and the provider of the proof is not told which services the user visits.
It was built as a stepping stone to the EUDI Wallet and uses specifications aligned with it. The Commission published the first blueprint on 14 July 2025 and a second version on 10 October 2025, which added support for the Digital Credentials API. The software is open source. Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain were the first member states to adopt and customise it.
It sits under the Digital Services Act guidelines on protecting minors, where it serves as a reference for robust, privacy-preserving age checks. The April 2026 recommendation is not a binding deadline, so availability will vary by country, and the same age proof is expected to live inside EUDI Wallets as they roll out.
Defined in
European Commission, age verification blueprint (14 July 2025, second version 10 October 2025); Commission Recommendation of 29 April 2026; Digital Services Act guidelines on the protection of minors
If you run age-restricted services in the EU, this is the age proof regulators point to. Planning for EUDI Wallet age attributes such as age_over_18 covers the same need with one integration.
Read next: Age verification for alcohol and restricted goods →
