- A user was harassed when verifying his identity on his new iPhone
- They shouldn’t have needed it, since their local laws didn’t require it.
- The culprit was his iPhone, imported from the United Kingdom.
Apple just raised its prices across the board, and while the iPhone is safe for now, many users are wondering if it’s just a matter of time before Apple’s best iPhones feel the weight of the price increase. If this sounds familiar, you may have purchased a second-hand iPhone in an attempt to get ahead of the game, but that could leave you with an annoying and unforeseen consequence.
That’s exactly what happened to the Reddit user, who said his new iPhone required him to verify his age, even though he lives in Bulgaria, an EU country where age verification is not required by law.
They were understandably reluctant to upload their ID documents, describing the process as a “huge privacy black hole.” But due to their refusal to do so, they were unable to access “certain types of content, social applications, GTA games and other things I paid for.” As they say, “they impose content and privacy restrictions on me, scan my chats, FaceTime calls and photos in the gallery without my will or consent.”
The case seems confusing, since Bulgarian users are not subject to identity verification laws that require them to confirm their age before accessing certain applications and services. But there is a country nearby that does We have laws like this, and it turned out to be the key to unlocking the mystery.
Check the model number
The UK has enacted laws requiring users to verify their identities in order to access certain apps and services on their devices, with the stated aim of protecting children from online harm. But the regulations, specifically the Online Safety Act, have caused a lot of controversy among privacy advocates and have resulted in a surge of angry users downloading the best VPNs to protect their identities and circumvent requirements.
Back on Reddit, the age verification mystery was solved when the Redditor discovered where his iPhone originally came from. This is something you can find in the Settings app by going to General > About and looking in the Model Number section.
The iPhone model was MFYP4QN/A and this contains several clues about its origin. For example, “MFYP4” refers to the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Deep Blue with 256GB of storage. Meanwhile, the “QN” part of the code relates to the regions where this model is sold: “Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, United Kingdom, Israel.”
In other words, although the Redditor bought his iPhone in Bulgaria, the device was probably imported from the United Kingdom. As a fellow Redditor pointed out, there is no official Apple presence in Bulgaria, so an import is the likely answer. As they say, “If it’s a UK model, it will behave like a UK model,” which would explain why the device was asking the user to verify their identity, even though local Bulgarian laws did not require that to be done.
Since different regions apply different privacy and age verification laws, the risk, as demonstrated on Reddit, is that you can buy a second-hand iPhone in a country that doesn’t require you to confirm your identity and still have an imported iPhone force you to do so. It’s all a bit messy.
If you’re thinking about buying a used iPhone and can check it out in person, be sure to note down its model number in the Settings app first. As The Apple Wiki explains, if the code contains the letters B, KN, QN, Z, ZD, ZF or ZM just before the forward slash (for example, MFYP4ZD/A), then it could be a UK device and could therefore act as if it were governed by UK laws, regardless of where you bought it. And that could have big consequences if you’re not prepared.
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