App Store Accountability Act: Texas, Utah and other states

The short answer

The App Store Accountability Act is model legislation that four states have enacted in their own versions: Texas (SB 2420, 2025), Utah (SB 142, 2025, amended by HB 498 in 2026), Louisiana (HB 570, 2025, replaced by HB 977 in 2026) and Alabama (HB 161, 2026). A federal bill with the same name is pending in Congress and is not law.

As of October 21, 2026, only the Texas law is in force. A federal judge blocked it in December 2025, but the Fifth Circuit stayed that order on June 4, 2026, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in on July 6, 2026. The appeal itself has not been decided. Alabama's law starts January 1, 2027, Utah's main duties start May 6, 2027, and Louisiana's start July 1, 2027.

California took a different route. Its Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) has operating systems collect an age at device setup and send an age range to apps, starting January 1, 2027. This guide is not legal advice; whether a particular app or store is covered is a legal question.

What the laws generally require

The four state laws follow a common pattern, with differences in detail covered below.

• App stores verify the age category of each person who opens an account in the state. The categories are under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, and 18 or older.
• A minor's account must be linked to a parent's account, and the store must get the parent's consent before the minor downloads an app, buys one or makes an in-app purchase.
• Stores share each user's age category and the parent's consent status with app developers, and tell developers when a parent withdraws consent.
• Developers verify age and consent through the store's data, tell stores about significant changes to their apps, and may use the age data only for limited purposes such as age restrictions, legal compliance and safety features.
• Developers that rely in good faith on the store's age and consent data get a safe harbor from liability under the law.

Texas: SB 2420

Texas SB 2420 (Acts 2025, 89th Legislature, chapter 200) adds the App Store Accountability Act as Chapter 121 of the Business and Commerce Code. Its text says it takes effect January 1, 2026. It covers app stores that distribute apps to users of mobile devices such as phones and tablets.

• App stores must verify an account holder's age category with a commercially reasonable method, link a minor's account to a verified parent or guardian, and get the parent's consent for each download or purchase. Blanket consent for multiple downloads is a violation.
• Before consent, the store must show the parent the app's age rating, the content behind the rating, and how the app collects and uses data. Stores must also display age ratings for apps.
• Developers must assign an age rating to each app and each in-app purchase, notify stores before significant changes, verify age and consent through the store's data, and delete that data after verification.
• Consent is not required for certain emergency-services apps and for apps of a nonprofit that runs standardized college admission or placement tests.
• A violation is a deceptive trade practice actionable under Texas's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the law's remedies add to other remedies. Morrison Foerster reports this allows Attorney General enforcement and consumer remedies.

Is the Texas law in effect? The lawsuits

Two suits challenged SB 2420 in federal court in Austin, alleging it violates the First Amendment: one by a student group, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), and one by the tech trade group CCIA, which says it sued in October 2025. CCIA says Judge Robert Pitman granted a preliminary injunction on December 23, 2025.

Texas appealed, and the Fifth Circuit first issued a temporary administrative stay, which the Texas Attorney General announced on June 1, 2026. On June 4, 2026, a Fifth Circuit panel (Judges Smith, Haynes and Oldham) granted Texas a stay of the injunctions pending appeal in Nos. 25-51073 and 26-50001. The order said Texas made a strong showing that the law likely regulates commercial speech and survives intermediate scrutiny, and that any relief should likely be limited to the plaintiffs rather than blocking the law for everyone. It is not a final ruling.

On July 6, 2026, the Supreme Court denied both groups' applications to vacate the stay (Nos. 25A1389 and 25A1390), without a noted vote. The Fifth Circuit heard argument on August 4, 2026, according to CCIA, one of the challengers. As of October 21, 2026, we found no decision on the appeal.

• Apple told developers on June 3, 2026 that new Apple Accounts in Texas became subject to the law on June 4, 2026, including parental consent for downloads, in-app purchases and significant app changes.
• Google's Play Age Signals API page says it returns age signals for eligible Texas users who created accounts after May 28, 2026.

Utah: SB 142 and the 2026 amendments

Utah's SB 142 (2025) was sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler and Rep. James Dunnigan. As enacted, store and developer duties were set to start May 6, 2026, and its enforcement section, including a private right to sue, December 31, 2026.

Gov. Spencer Cox signed HB 498 on March 18, 2026, rewriting the law before those dates arrived.

• Most store and developer duties now start May 6, 2027. Stores have 12 months after that to verify the ages of existing account holders.
• The amended text no longer treats violations as deceptive trade practices and drops the consumer protection division's rulemaking role. Enforcement is by private lawsuit: a harmed minor or the minor's parent can sue a store or developer for the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, plus attorney fees.
• For minors, age verification must include a parent's affirmative age attestation.
• It adds pre-installed apps, such as browsers, search engines and messaging apps: developers must request age data or parental consent when a user first opens one.
• Developers can ask stores to block minor accounts from downloading or buying their apps, and must use the lowest applicable age category when first setting safety defaults.
• CCIA sued Utah's Attorney General over SB 142 in February 2026. CCIA says it voluntarily dismissed the case in April 2026 after the amendment removed state enforcement.

Louisiana: HB 570, replaced by HB 977

Louisiana's HB 570 became Act 481 of 2025 and was set to take effect July 1, 2026. It never did: HB 977 (Act 185 of 2026), which took effect in part on the governor's signature on May 15, 2026, repealed Act 481 and enacted a revised law whose main provisions start July 1, 2027.

• Stores must verify age at account creation, link minors to a parent account and get parental consent before downloads, purchases, in-app purchases and access to pre-loaded apps.
• Where a store's age signal conflicts with the developer's own data, developers generally rely on the store's signal unless they actually know their own is more accurate.
• The Attorney General enforces it after notice and a chance to cure, with civil fines up to $10,000 per violation and up to $5,000 per violation of a court or administrative order. The official digests do not describe a private right of action.

Alabama: HB 161

Alabama's HB 161, sponsored by Reps. Sells and Mooney, won final legislative approval on February 10, 2026. Alabama Reporter reported that Gov. Kay Ivey signed it as Act 2026-59. Its text says it takes effect January 1, 2027.

• Stores must verify the age category of new Alabama accounts and verify accounts that existed on October 2, 2026 before October 1, 2027. The Attorney General must adopt rules on how stores verify whether an account holder is a minor.
• Stores give developers real-time access to age category and consent status, and help with age data and consent for pre-installed apps.
• A knowing or reckless violation is a deceptive trade practice, and the Attorney General has exclusive authority to sue, with penalties up to $7,500 per violation. The text does not expressly create a private right of action.
• Stores are not liable for a wrong age signal if they used a commercially reasonable process and due care.

California: the Digital Age Assurance Act

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1043 on October 13, 2025. Instead of per-download parental consent, it has operating system providers ask for a user's birth date or age at account setup and send apps an age range signal. Developers must request the signal and treat it as the primary indicator of a user's age, according to the Assembly committee analysis. It starts January 1, 2027, and only the Attorney General enforces it, with penalties of up to $2,500 per affected child for negligent violations and $7,500 for intentional ones, as summarized by Alston & Bird. AB 1856, signed September 10, 2026, amended the law before its start date; our guide to California's age verification law covers those changes.

Newsom signed an amendment, AB 1856, on September 10, 2026. Our California guide covers both laws in detail.

The federal App Store Accountability Act

Rep. John James introduced H.R. 3149 and Sen. Mike Lee introduced S. 1586 on May 1, 2025. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee forwarded H.R. 3149 on December 11, 2025, and the full committee voted 26-23 on March 5, 2026 to report it to the House as amended. S. 1586 has had no action since referral to the Senate Commerce Committee. We found no record of either bill passing the House or Senate.

As introduced, the House bill would apply to app stores with more than 5 million U.S. users, be enforced by the FTC and state attorneys general, and bar states from enforcing laws related to its provisions. It would take effect one year after enactment.

Side-by-side, as of October 21, 2026

• Texas SB 2420: in force since the Fifth Circuit's stays (late May and June 4, 2026); appeal pending; enforced through the Deceptive Trade Practices Act; parental consent for each download or purchase.
• Utah SB 142 / HB 498: main duties from May 6, 2027; private lawsuits only, $1,000 per violation minimum; challenge dismissed.
• Louisiana HB 977 (replacing HB 570): from July 1, 2027; Attorney General only, up to $10,000 per violation; no known challenge in the sources we reviewed.
• Alabama HB 161: from January 1, 2027; Attorney General only, up to $7,500 per violation.
• California AB 1043: from January 1, 2027; operating system age signal rather than per-download consent; Attorney General only.
• Federal H.R. 3149 / S. 1586: pending; would preempt related state laws if enacted.

What this means for AI chatbots

None of these app store laws names chatbots. They apply to apps distributed through covered app stores, so a chatbot app downloaded from an app store would receive the same age category and consent signals as other apps. Whether a given chatbot, especially one used only on the web, is covered is a legal question.

California links the two directly. Under SB 1119, signed September 10, 2026, companion chatbot operators must, from January 1, 2027, either determine each user's age using signals under the Digital Age Assurance Act (falling back on the age determination under California's addictive-feed law) or apply the law's child protections to all users.

The app store laws also limit how developers use age data, mainly to age restrictions, legal compliance and safety features, and Utah and Alabama tell developers to apply the lowest indicated age category when setting safety defaults.