# EU age verification app

10 Hacker News commenters recommended EU age verification app and 34 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised for open specs, open-source code and proving age without sharing personal data. Main caveat: it requires attested Android or iOS, which excludes de-Googled phones.

## Why people recommend it

- Open specs and open-source code (2 comments): "All the specs are open and the reference implementations are also open source, so other jurisdictions could adopt this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46738234)) ""open source": this is the only reassuring part." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896161))
- Proves age without sharing personal data (2 comments): "allows owners of ID wallets to verify their age, without their actual age or personal data being transmitted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46956920)) "a much more secure and privacy preserving system than what they would get otherwise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46626769))
- Design praised as strong overall (2 comments): "the EU Age Verification app looks fine, especially now what the easy bugs are fixed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47842288)) "this EU initiative is about the best design one can have" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47518552))

## What people warn about

- Locked to Google or Apple devices (5 comments): "The "app" could be a good solution, if it didn't require attested Android or iOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48904496)) "it requires attestation: even if you install Google Play on some Android in an emulator/container/VM, on an alternative Android distro or in a rooted device, the app will not accept it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48904515)) "they completely botched it by having the proof-of-concept app rely on Apple & Googles integrity APIs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49108218))
- Security flaws and data retention (3 comments): "Devs forgot to delete images in some failed scenarios." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47842012)) "the EU claims their own age verification app is the most private and most secure app in the world, yet it's already been hacked is laughable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48112170)) "Not immediately deleting the selfie is a pretty fundamental and egregious mistake to make." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47844282))
- Distrust of issuer and backend (3 comments): "I will not use it for anything privately as I neither trust the issuer, nor the notified bodies providing the infrastructure." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47791693)) "The app also requires that you first send your personal information to a closed source backend" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47957115)) "shun their lies and believe you on the subject of whether this age verification app is ready?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48382041))
- Weak token ownership and tracking (2 comments): "you are given a pseudonym per domain and websites can easily track you through it even without an account" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47790026)) "It does have an obvious flaw in that whoever you give the token to has no proof it's actually yours." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48078571))

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "EU age verification app", https://hackerapproved.com/p/eu-age-verification-app/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).