Roblox has just announced a major update to its safety features that every parent should know about. Starting this week, Roblox is rolling out Facial Age Checks globally as a requirement for users to access voice and text chat features. This is a significant step towards creating a safer, more age-appropriate environment for children online.
What is changing?
To use chat features on Roblox, users will now be prompted to verify their age. This ensures that users are placed into correct Age Groups, which restricts who they can communicate with.
The goal is simple: to limit communication between adults and children younger than 16, and to ensure children only interact with others in their own age range.
How Age Groups Work
As shown in the chart above, users are grouped by age (Under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-21, and 21+). By default, users can only chat with people in their own group and the groups immediately adjacent to them. For example, a user in the 9-12 group can chat with the group below (Under 9) and the group above (13-15), but cannot communicate with anyone 16 or older.
Privacy & Data Safety
Roblox has emphasized that privacy is paramount. The images and videos used for Facial Age Estimation are deleted immediately after processing. They are not stored on Roblox servers.
What Parents Need to Do
- Talk to your child: Explain why this verification is happening — it's to keep them safe.
- Help with verification: If your child is under 13, you will need to give parental consent for them to access chat features.
- Check Parental Controls: Use this opportunity to double-check your child's privacy settings in the Roblox app.