A Roblox age check is now required before anyone can use chat. Your child can either complete a facial age scan, verify with a government ID if that’s available, or have you set their age through parental controls. I’ll explain why in a moment, because the obvious shortcut is the one that causes real harm.
What the age check actually does
Roblox rolled out this change after piloting it in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands at the end of 2025, then started implementing is globally in January 2026. It was the first large gaming platform to require age checks for chat across every age group, not just adults.
The system sorts everyone into age bands: under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, and 21 plus. Once you’re in a band, you can chat with people in your age band or slightly younger or slightly older. For example, a twelve-year-old can chat to other twelve-year-olds and nine-year-olds. However, they can’t talk to an eighteen-year-old. Under nines have the chat off by default unless a parent turns it on after verification.
The fastest route through is the facial scan, which Roblox runs through a third party and says deletes the image straight after processing. Alternatively you can use the government ID or set the age yourself in the parental controls.
The Mistake
Here is the most important thing to take away.
When the scan is fiddly, or it estimates your child’s age incorrectly, or your child is upset because their friends can talk but they can’t, the obvious fix is to do the scan yourself. Hold the phone up to your own face, get it over with and everyone can carry on with their day. But this puts your child in the 21 plus age band.
This means that the system has been told that this account belongs to and adult, and it will happily connect the account to every other adult on the platform. You have just moved your child into the least protected group on the platform and opened your child up to potential danger.
Instead, if the age estimate comes back wrong, fix it through the parental controls or ID verification. Then at least you know that your child will fall into the correct band with the correct safety controls.
What the Age Check Doesn’t Do
It sorts people by age. That’s all it does.
It does not establish which age is messaging another, because the estimate could be wrong. You will need to assist in completing the checks and ensuring that it’s accurate. Also, it doesn’t detect manipulation, pressure or grooming between two people that the system believes are peers.
In all honesty, the age check is an improvement but it isn’t protection. It reduces the attack surface ever so slightly, but we all know that when there’s a will, there’s a way. So, continue to do your own checks and let your child know that they can talk to you.
What’s Worth Doing This Week
Check what age band your child’s account is actually in, and fix it through parental controls if it is not correct. Then ask them one simple question: Has anyone asked you to talk somewhere else? That one question is more than the entire age verification system itself.
If you want your child practicing rather than being told about it, Cyberlingz is a browser game where cybersecurity is buried in the gameplay. There’s also no chat, no strangers, and no way to for someone to send random messages to your child. Read this article to find out more. Or just try it yourself, Season 01 is available now.
Be secure!
