Pornhub to become accessible again for some UK users

Pornhub's parent company Aylo says it will be making the site available again for some UK users.

The company behind the world's best-known porn site limited access for most UK users in February - only permitting those who had previously registered with Pornhub and verified their age.

It said Online Safety Act (OSA) age verification rules for porn and other adult sites had not been evenly or fairly applied across the industry, and it would no longer take part in what it said it was a flawed system.

But on Tuesday Pornhub's owners said Apple users who had confirmed their age with the company's most up-to-date version of iOS, its mobile operating system, would be allowed back onto the site.

This is because the latest version of iOS introduces age checks for UK iPhone users, as well as for iPads running on up-to-date iterations of its own operating system, iPadOS.

Aylo has long argued that so-called device-level checks, of the sort Apple has brought in, are the best way to stop young people accessing explicit content.

"With the release of iOS 26.4 Apple has introduced the world's first ever device-based age verification solution for its users in the UK, a major first step towards a global solution that stands to better protect children everywhere," said Alex Kekesi, head of community and brand at Aylo.

This partial U-turn is the latest example of how Pornhub has been affected by the OSA.

In October 2025 it said traffic from UK users had plunged by more than 75% following the introduction of more robust age checks - though some have questioned whether people were simply using VPNs instead.

Four months later, that was followed by Aylo effectively barring new UK users from the site.

Since then people trying to get on Pornhub in the UK have been met with "safe for work" content rather than explicit videos.

Kekesi said Aylo had been in touch with the regulator Ofcom, which enforces the OSA, about how it would comply with the UK's age check rules.

"We remain in close contact with Aylo, and will carefully scrutinise these changes," an Ofcom spokesperson said.

But they added the responsibility to prevent children accessing porn in the UK "falls firmly on sites and apps".

"Services can implement age checks at device account level, but they must be confident they can demonstrate to Ofcom their process is highly effective, and be ready to provide us with detailed information on this when we demand it."

It confirms whether a user is over 18 by looking at how long they have had an Apple account, using information from their connected payment methods or by scanning their ID.

However, some users subsequently complained they could not initially prove their age through the system without a credit card or driver's licence.