Kids can no longer sneak into 18 rated movies as cinemas roll out digital ID app

The Yoti app allows young people to verify their age without disclosing other personal information and is being tested at supermarket checkouts by the Home Office

Cinemas will introduce a digital ID app to prevent children from accessing adult films containing sex and violence.

The app would confirm the age of young people to box office staff and will be accepted in UK Cinema Association branches from Monday.

Developed by digital ID provider Yoti, the app bases the user’s age on a previously uploaded document, e.g. B. a passport.

So far around 3,000,000 people in the UK have downloaded the Yoti app, which is most popular among 16-25 year olds.

The technology is part of a broader movement towards digital IDs for age-restricted products and will help cinemas meet their legal requirements to deny children access to films with inappropriate content.

Yoti’s AI face photo exams, which can estimate age, are being tested by the Home Office, as are its apps at supermarket checkouts to discourage children from buying alcohol.

Ministers could consider changing the law to allow digital age verification for alcohol sales if those trials prove successful. Physical ID is currently required.

The digital ID app can also be used to access a range of products from Calpol to energy drinks at 30,000 convenience stores and has been approved by the government to allow young people over the age of 18

While critics have raised concerns that such technology could lead to a stealthy rollout of national digital ID cards, supporters of the system say it will provide children with an easier way to prove their age without revealing other personal information.

Yoti is also used by social media platform Yubo as part of a series of measures to prevent under-13s from accessing their website.

The digital ID is created by the person uploading a document such as a passport and then taking a live photo to confirm their identity. A government database, to which Yoti has no access, stores the information, which can be deleted by the user at any time.

The digital ID app shows a verified photo and indicates whether the user is over 12, 15 or 18 years old.

So said Phil Clapp, chief executive of the UK Cinema Association The Telegraph : “For many who want to get into a film at 15 or even 18, verifying their age – without a passport or driver’s license – can be incredibly difficult and an understandable source of frustration when they are turned away from the cinema.

“This new partnership offers a simple and modern way to reduce the likelihood of this happening. Of the 165-170 million annual visitors who saw UK cinemas before the pandemic, around 30 per cent fall in the 15-24 age group and around 20 per cent in the 9-14 age group.

“Since the cinemas reopened last May, these proportions are likely to be even higher.”

John Abbott, Yoti’s chief business officer, said the approach is less intrusive than physical ID documents, which could include addresses and other personal information, while digital ID merely proves age.