O2 Age restriction: what it is & how to manage it ?

[MI5]

Following OFCOM regulation, all O2 sim cards come with age restriction turned on.

The customer or user must be able to prove to O2 that they are over 18 to have the restriction removed.

Sites, as classified by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), are included.

How do I know?

If you try to go to sites that are 18+, you might get a ‘Timed out’ or ‘No Response’ message if it’s a secure site (HTTPS).

How do I prove I’m over 18?

There are three ways you can do this. Once you do, O2 will take off the filters and won’t ask again.

• If you're on Pay Monthly, remove it via your My O2 account on the web. Select 'More' at the top of the page, and then 'Age Verification' (see screenshots below)

Spoiler

• Go to any O2 shop with photo ID (passport or driving licence).
• Prove you have a credit card. O2 will charge £1 to the card, which will then be refunded, either through your bill or with calling credit.

You can prove you have a credit card by:

• Calling 61018, free from your O2 mobile
• Going to https://ageverification.o2.co.uk/
• Calling customer services on 202, free from your O2 mobile

Parents can also set up the Parental Control service, which makes sure your children can only go to sites that are suitable for them. Go to parentalcontrol.o2.co.uk to set it up.

Please Note

Sometimes O2 might block a site by mistake, or might miss an adult site. If this happens, call customer services on 202 to let them know.

Also some sites, which host illegal content, are automatically blocked to everyone. O2 can’t unblock those.

You may also find similar restrictions when using Wi-Fi, if so, you need to check your router settings or contact your ISP as O2 do not have any control over that.

[Cleoriff]

Good guide @MI5 

Explains everything very well. Will it be going in the Index I hope?

[pgn]

Now there's a really useful post - destined for the Guide section, I hope, @EmilieT.

PS. Didn't know about the parentalcontrol url, must explore that.  Thanks, @MI5 

[EmilieT]

On it @Cleoriff @pgn 

Thank for putting this guide together @MI5, very useful!

[TallTrees]

Great addition for the guide section @MI5
This query comes up from time to time.

[jonsie]

Nice guide @MI5 

[Martin-O2]

Really nice guide @MI5! It's great to have all the info around age restrictions in one place. 

[Gman6967]

So how would someone who dose not have a credit card and is housebound have the restrictions lifted could they possibly send a photo of their driving license

[MI5]

@Gman6967 

You would need to call customer service to get advice on that Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

[Gman6967]

Thanks will do

[27]

I don't have a credit card and the shops are closed any other options?

[jonsie]

Call them

0800 587 4005

[Colin3]

Take my 18 restrictions off

[MI5]

@Colin3 

If you've read the guide you've posted on, you'll know how to

[Cleoriff]

@Colin3 

We are not O2. Please read the guide you have posted on and follow instructions.

Also this one you also posted on https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly/18-restrictions/m-p/1369747 

[Cleoriff]

Great to see this updated now @Marjo 

[MI5]

Yes indeed.

@Marjo  messaged me about it this afternoon

[Cleoriff]

Same here as I had PM'd her about adding it.

[pgn]

Good work!

That should read "on the Web on a desktop or laptop"... Try it in Chrome on a smartphone, the "More" moves to the LHS "Menu" drop down, tap it and you will see "Age Verification" near the bottom of the pic below:

Took me a minute or two to find it... 😳

[MI5]

@pgn 

Is that on desktop view as i notice it's saying the mobile myo2 at the top of page?

[pgn]

The picture is off my Smartphone, when you go to MyO2 Web service in the browser and sign-on, URL switches to mymobile.o2... automatically, unless you check the box that says "Desktop version" (which is really hard on the old peepers to read, tbh), @MI5 

[MI5]

Yeah, I tried it on desktop version and you have to do a lot of pinching and zooming, lol.

Safe to say it's best done on laptop, PC or MAC.

Tablet might not be too bad an option either.

[Chucklebus]

If set to 'On'....does that mean 18+ sites are restricted? Or does it mean I'm verifying my family members as 18+? The settings to all my accounts were set to 'Off' when I went in, but the 'access to 18+ warning' was coming up on my phone? 

[pgn]

Set to "on" means filter is in place, yes.

Mine shows as Off, and is not blocking my access to any sites, @Chucklebus:

[Willbert]

Age verification link on the 'more' menu item currently redirects you to nothing relevant to age verification. Bit rubbish.

Thankfully your link re credit card worked so thanks.

This should be far simpler and in My O2 screen somewhere obvious.

Seems complacent and poor for a large rich company. 

Only just joined and not impressed.

[Muss]

Thank you for reply, I can’t seem to find age verification option on the more menu, just on the support section.

[Naemoor]

The guide tells me to login and select "More" at the top of the page... there is no "More."

How do I get to the agd settings page?

[pgn]

Login to the web version of your account, in a browser:

then:

@Naemoor - good luck!

[TonyMontana]

Why doesn't 02 tell you this when you sign up?? It took a lot of time to find this out...

[Cleoriff]

@TonyMontana

Welcome to the community.

If O2 told you everything about their systems, terms and conditions etc when you signed up, your eyes would glaze over and you would retain nothing in your memory.😂

All you had to do was ask, via the community or customer service.

You've found the guide now and hope it helps.

If you browse the forum, you will find many guides on different topics such as Roaming, sim swaps etc etc.

All in this handy index HERE 

Best of luck and welcome again.

[Ads677]

Having been forced to join O2 by Virgin Media, and assuming that if 18+ shows as 'off' it means that there are no restrictions, my account is automatically restriction-free!  The implication from the wording within the app and the website is that restrictions are in force by default.  Does this mean that O2 already know that I want no restrictions, and if so, who told them?

[pgn]

@Ads677 - Pretty sure VM have similar, certainly they do for their Broadband service - so if you requested Adult content be enabled on VM side, it is only logical that on migration to O2, your account should have that setting carried across also, no?

[Ads677]

Have to say I don’t recall VM ever asking my preference, but if I was already able to visit, say, an alcoholic beverage site, I presume that permissions have been carried across, which is fine. What I think is really unclear is O2’s wording - if 18+ is off, does this mean restrictions are or are not in place? It would be much better if it said something like ‘do you wish to be able to view 18+ content’ and then provide a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ tickbox.

[pgn]

@Ads677 - yes, the wording on the old system was a bit "off" 😄 - as below:

Settings OFF - you can see pretty much everything, unless it is on the global bad sites" list

Settings ON - O2's standard filters are in effect and you may not be able to get to certain categories of website deemed unsuitable for minors, etc.

Perhaps the new 360 back-end system will have more human-oriented wording.

[mst]

Forced migrant from Virgin here, 18+ content was set to OFF and websites being blocked. Toggling to on, entering the code sent by SMS then toggling airplane mode as instructed removed the block. So setting ON confirms you are 18+. 

[pgn]

Are you in the new 360 system, @mst? The screenshot above comes from my Legacy MyO2, and Age Verification set to Off means that any safety filters are disabled. Perhaps this logic is inverted for those customers on the new 360 back-end accounts system, would not surprise me. For more info on Legacy vs 360, see most recent posts on Guide: How do I get to the 'Download Bill' page? @mst.

[mst]

My O2 seems the same as screen shots above, it's just a single website browser app and you often end up on the normal website following links. But to view "deviant art" my account needs the setting ON.

[The_Smackblith]

This may have been useful once, but it's now useless. There is no "More" at the top of the page, so from there the rest of the instructions are meaningless. Elsewhere on the site there are instructions saying "select age verification from the drop-down menu under My02" - but there is no drop-down menu under My02.

[pgn]

@The_Smackblith This help?

 

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/safety-and-security/age-restricted-content-and-age-verification