Let adult users disable the age check once and for all

All Discussions > Steam Forums > Suggestions / Ideas > Topic Details

@Bloading 5 Jul @ 6:56pm

Please let adults opt out of the age check — the system is broken

I've been contacting Steam Support about this issue for years, and I’m now posting here because the problem continues and support has directed me to the forums — again. The issue is simple:

I am an adult user. My Steam account is private, secure, and used only by me. No minors access my account. I have all content filters disabled in my store preferences, and yet I still have to enter my date of birth repeatedly when browsing the Steam Store.

Steam’s own UI says that disabling filters should remove this confirmation step. That is clearly not true in practice.

What’s broken:

• The prompt appears multiple times in a single session
It’s not limited to once per login. I can be browsing the store, open a game page, do something else, return to another game, and the prompt will appear again.

• The birth year often defaults to a random date like 2010
This causes immediate access denial unless I manually re-enter a valid year.

• This happens across platforms and devices
Steam client, browser, mobile app, different systems, different networks, the same issue everywhere.

• The preferences don’t work
I’ve explicitly disabled the warning filters, and the store still prompts me. This contradicts what the platform itself promises.

This is a long-standing issue

The Steam community has raised this topic many times. Posts about this date back over seven years, and people still talk about the problem today. Here's one archived example:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/10/846940248118585609/

Here’s another active thread on Reddit where users describe the same frustration:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/s/Cd1qFW6xug

It’s also reached the point where users have created unofficial tools just to avoid this broken prompt:

https://github.com/Will6855/Steam-Age-Check-Bypass/releases/tag/v1.0.0

That’s not just a red flag — it’s a full-blown alarm. People are willing to risk their accounts or security just to suppress something that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

What I’m asking for

Let me clarify: I am not asking Steam to store my date of birth. I understand the privacy concern. That’s fine.

What I’m asking is for Steam to honor my preference settings. If I’ve disabled all content filters in my store preferences, that should be enough to skip this prompt entirely. Whether or not Steam stores my birthday is irrelevant — you can solve this technically without storing sensitive information. You already track many user-level UI preferences. This one should be no different.

Please forward this to someone at Valve with decision-making power. The current behavior is misleading, frustrating, and inconsistent with what the platform tells the user. It punishes responsible adult users who have configured their preferences correctly, and it offers no path to resolution.

It’s time for this to be fixed.

Last edited by @Bloading; 5 Jul @ 8:07pm

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Showing 1-15 of 22 comments

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 5 Jul @ 7:06pm

Originally posted by @Bloading:
Let adult users disable the age check once and for all

Please let adults opt out of the age check — the system is broken

I've been contacting Steam Support about this issue for years, and I’m now posting here because the problem continues and support has directed me to the forums — again. The issue is simple:

I am an adult user. My Steam account is private, secure, and used only by me. No minors access my account. I have all content filters disabled in my store preferences, and yet I still have to enter my date of birth repeatedly when browsing the Steam Store.

Steam’s own UI says that disabling filters should remove this confirmation step. That is clearly not true in practice.

What’s broken:

[]The prompt appears multiple times in a single session — It’s not limited to once per login. I can be browsing the store, open a game page, do something else, return to another game, and the prompt will appear again. []The birth year often defaults to a random date like 2010 — This causes immediate access denial unless I manually re-enter a valid year. []This happens across platforms and devices — Steam client, browser, mobile app, different systems, different networks — the same issue everywhere. []The preferences don’t work — I’ve explicitly disabled the warning filters, and the store still prompts me. This contradicts what the platform itself promises.

This is a long-standing issue

The Steam community has raised this topic many times. Posts about this date back over seven years, and people still talk about the problem today. Here's one archived example:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/10/846940248118585609/

Here’s another active thread on Reddit where users describe the same frustration:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/s/Cd1qFW6xug

It’s also reached the point where users have created unofficial tools just to avoid this broken prompt:

https://github.com/Will6855/Steam-Age-Check-Bypass/releases/tag/v1.0.0

That’s not just a red flag — it’s a full-blown alarm. People are willing to risk their accounts or security just to suppress something that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

What I’m asking for

Let me clarify: I am not asking Steam to store my date of birth. I understand the privacy concern. That’s fine.

What I’m asking is for Steam to honor my preference settings. If I’ve disabled all content filters in my store preferences, that should be enough to skip this prompt entirely. Whether or not Steam stores my birthday is irrelevant — you can solve this technically without storing sensitive information. You already track many user-level UI preferences. This one should be no different.

Please forward this to someone at Valve with decision-making power. The current behavior is misleading, frustrating, and inconsistent with what the platform tells the user. It punishes responsible adult users who have configured their preferences correctly, and it offers no path to resolution.

It’s time for this to be fixed. [/quote]

Q: Why do you KEEP asking my damn age throughout the store?

A: We're with you on this. Unfortunately, many rating agencies have rules that stipulate that we cannot save your age for longer than a single browsing session. It's frustrating, but know we're filling out those age gates too.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1708442022337025126

Firewing 5 Jul @ 7:09pm

Please, this

Maria 5 Jul @ 7:19pm

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:
Q: Why do you KEEP asking my damn age throughout the store?

A: We're with you on this. Unfortunately, many rating agencies have rules that stipulate that we cannot save your age for longer than a single browsing session. It's frustrating, but know we're filling out those age gates too.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1708442022337025126

I thought they'll give you a choice to stop asking your age if your account is more than 18 years old. It was a recent update iirc.

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 5 Jul @ 7:33pm

Originally posted by Maria:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1708442022337025126

I thought they'll give you a choice to stop asking your age if your account is more than 18 years old. It was a recent update iirc.

Find the update and post it here.

@Bloading 5 Jul @ 8:23pm

Originally posted by Maria:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1708442022337025126

:nkCool:
I thought they'll give you a choice to stop asking your age if your account is more than 18 years old. It was a recent update iirc.

Yet, if it was fixed by a recent update I'm not aware of because it's not working on my account.

Last edited by @Bloading; 5 Jul @ 8:24pm

@Bloading 5 Jul @ 8:27pm

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Q: Why do you KEEP asking my damn age throughout the store?

A: We're with you on this. Unfortunately, many rating agencies have rules that stipulate that we cannot save your age for longer than a single browsing session. It's frustrating, but know we're filling out those age gates too.

Yes they said they can't save your date of birth, but as I wrote in the post, that's not the only way out of the age gate.

Last edited by @Bloading; 5 Jul @ 8:28pm

Ben Lubar 5 Jul @ 9:00pm

The age check screen is not used for anything that Valve has control over. It's only used for requirements from ratings agencies external to Steam's age rating / content survey / mature content preferences system.

76561198407601200 5 Jul @ 9:05pm

Originally posted by @Bloading:
Please let adults opt out of the age check — the system is broken

I've been contacting Steam Support about this issue for years, and I’m now posting here because the problem continues and support has directed me to the forums — again. The issue is simple:

I am an adult user. My Steam account is private, secure, and used only by me. No minors access my account. I have all content filters disabled in my store preferences, and yet I still have to enter my date of birth repeatedly when browsing the Steam Store.

Steam’s own UI says that disabling filters should remove this confirmation step. That is clearly not true in practice.

What’s broken:

• The prompt appears multiple times in a single session
It’s not limited to once per login. I can be browsing the store, open a game page, do something else, return to another game, and the prompt will appear again.

• The birth year often defaults to a random date like 2010
This causes immediate access denial unless I manually re-enter a valid year.

• This happens across platforms and devices
Steam client, browser, mobile app, different systems, different networks, the same issue everywhere.

• The preferences don’t work
I’ve explicitly disabled the warning filters, and the store still prompts me. This contradicts what the platform itself promises.

This is a long-standing issue

The Steam community has raised this topic many times. Posts about this date back over seven years, and people still talk about the problem today. Here's one archived example:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/10/846940248118585609/

Here’s another active thread on Reddit where users describe the same frustration:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/s/Cd1qFW6xug

It’s also reached the point where users have created unofficial tools just to avoid this broken prompt:

{LINK REMOVED}

That’s not just a red flag — it’s a full-blown alarm. People are willing to risk their accounts or security just to suppress something that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

What I’m asking for

Let me clarify: I am not asking Steam to store my date of birth. I understand the privacy concern. That’s fine.

What I’m asking is for Steam to honor my preference settings. If I’ve disabled all content filters in my store preferences, that should be enough to skip this prompt entirely. Whether or not Steam stores my birthday is irrelevant — you can solve this technically without storing sensitive information. You already track many user-level UI preferences. This one should be no different.

Please forward this to someone at Valve with decision-making power. The current behavior is misleading, frustrating, and inconsistent with what the platform tells the user. It punishes responsible adult users who have configured their preferences correctly, and it offers no path to resolution.

It’s time for this to be fixed. [/quote]

Last edited by The Living Tribunal; 6 Jul @ 9:49am

Maria 5 Jul @ 11:13pm

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:
Find the update and post it here.

Originally posted by @Bloading:

Yet, if it was fixed by a recent update I'm not aware of because it's not working on my account.

Someone uploaded a screenshot of it in a discord server I'm in. Maybe the feature isn’t officially available to everyone yet (or it was all a poor attempt to troll)

. Also, your account probably needs to be 18+. As for you OP, yours is still 12+, btw.

If you have friends with the 18+ badge, you could ask them. Some might be able to see the pop-up.

@Bloading 6 Jul @ 3:35am

Originally posted by Maria:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:
Find the update and post it here.

:nkCool:
Originally posted by @Bloading:

Yet, if it was fixed by a recent update I'm not aware of because it's not working on my account.
Someone uploaded a screenshot of it in a discord server I'm in. Maybe the feature isn’t officially available to everyone yet (or it was all a poor attempt to troll) :ReeneAHA:. Also, your account probably needs to be 18+. As for you OP, yours is still 12+, btw.

If you have friends with the 18+ badge, you could ask them. Some might be able to see the pop-up.

That doesn't really make sense. Requiring a Steam account to be 18+ years old just to skip a basic age check would be a pretty silly requirement, to say the least.

#10

datCookie 6 Jul @ 3:42am

Originally posted by @Bloading:
Originally posted by Maria:

Someone uploaded a screenshot of it in a discord server I'm in. Maybe the feature isn’t officially available to everyone yet (or it was all a poor attempt to troll) :ReeneAHA:. Also, your account probably needs to be 18+. As for you OP, yours is still 12+, btw.

If you have friends with the 18+ badge, you could ask them. Some might be able to see the pop-up.

That doesn't really make sense. Requiring a Steam account to be 18+ years old just to skip a basic age check would be a pretty silly requirement, to say the least.

Valve can't verify the identity of any account owner, even though their SSA states that users must be at least 13 years of age to have an account.

Therefore, the most logical thing to do would be to set a requirement that accounts must be 18 years old before something like this gets removed for that account.

They know it's an annoying thing, but it's out of their control and this is the only real way to do it.

#11

@Bloading 6 Jul @ 3:42am

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
The age check screen is not used for anything that Valve has control over. It's only used for requirements from ratings agencies external to Steam's age rating / content survey / mature content preferences system.

If the age check is really required for legal reasons, then fine, make it enabled by default for everyone. But at least give users the option to turn it off manually in the settings if they want to and make it work!

It would still be active for the majority of people, and for those who don’t want it can disable it.

Most game trailers already show the age rating clearly right at the beginning, so it's not like people are being misled.

There’s no reason a grown adult should be forced to click through a date of birth box every time just to see a store page.

#12

@Bloading 6 Jul @ 3:53am

Originally posted by datCookie:
Originally posted by @Bloading:

That doesn't really make sense. Requiring a Steam account to be 18+ years old just to skip a basic age check would be a pretty silly requirement, to say the least.

Valve can't verify the identity of any account owner, even though their SSA states that users must be at least 13 years of age to have an account.

Therefore, the most logical thing to do would be to set a requirement that accounts must be 18 years old before something like this gets removed for that account.

They know it's an annoying thing, but it's out of their control and this is the only real way to do it.

I understand the concern about Valve not being able to verify users' identities. That’s fine.

If they need to enforce age verification, I get it: do it once. Let everyone input their birthdate one time, and that’s it.

Or else, keep the age check on by default and give users the ability to turn it off in the store preferences. That’s already supposed to be how it works, but it just doesn’t.

The real issue here isn’t the check itself; it’s the lack of an opt-out for those of us who clearly don’t need it.

And if Valve really wanted to take it further, they could offer something like an optional digital verification process: some kind of age check system for people who want to prove they’re over 18. Sure, it would take more work, but it's possible.

The point is, there are many smarter ways to handle this than the current system, which is annoying, does little and helps no one.

#13

Ettanin 6 Jul @ 3:59am

It's a legal requirement in some countries to check every time because Valve cannot look at your webcam (if one exists) to check whether it's an adult or a child between keyboard and chair.

#14

Crazy Tiger 6 Jul @ 3:59am

It's supposed to be a session cookie. It also works for me like that, I only have to enter the birthdate once per session.

For the rest, it's there for indemnification,. It's supposed to be asked often, because nobody knows who exactly is using the account and this way there is no way for soccermoms to sue Valve and the publishers since little kiddo had to have lied to even see it.

Originally posted by @Bloading:
Or else, keep the age check on by default and give users the ability to turn it off in the store preferences. That’s already supposed to be how it works, but it just doesn’t.

It's not. that's bad wording on Valves part.

It's supposed to work as it does, actually.

Originally posted by @Bloading:
The real issue here isn’t the check itself; it’s the lack of an opt-out for those of us who clearly don’t need it.

The age check isn't there for us... You won't get an opt-out.

Last edited by Crazy Tiger; 6 Jul @ 4:00am

#15

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All Discussions > Steam Forums > Suggestions / Ideas > Topic Details

Date Posted: 5 Jul @ 6:56pm

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