How to Add Shopify Age Verification (Popup, Checkout, ID)

To add age verification to a Shopify store, pick how far the check goes, then follow that route's steps. Each step up asks for different tools, and the checkout routes depend on your plan.

On the Shopify pages we read (listed at the end of the ID section), no built-in age gate is described, so every route this guide covers is an app or code you add. The Shopify Theme Store also lists "Age verifier" as a feature of some paid themes, and of no free theme, as of November 9, 2026; that feature comes from the theme's developer, and this guide does not cover it. Whether Shopify checks age by itself is a separate answer; this page is the procedure.

Which Age Check Does Your Store Need?

Find what you were told to do, then follow that row's link to the steps. If nobody has told you yet, read what Shopify's pages say first.

The first two rows rest on what the shopper says. The third enforces a rule, and it still needs an age signal from somewhere. Only the fourth compares the shopper's details with anything, and that claim comes from the app listings. We tried a popup against other ways in: see our test.

What Shopify's Pages Say

Shopify's alcohol compliance page says you're required to follow the laws in any jurisdiction where your alcohol products are advertised or sold. For alcohol sold in or into the United States, it lists this among the common requirements to consider:

The same page cites 18 for the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and "the legal age in the relevant jurisdiction" for the EU; for the UK it also points to the PAS 1296: 2018 standard. Which drinking age applies where you sell has its own answer.

That page, read on November 8, 2026, does not say which methods count as effective, so this guide won't tell you that any level is enough. Get the requirement from your licensing authority, delivery carrier or lawyer, then choose the check that meets it.

Selling tobacco or vapes? Read who sets the age and licence rules for tobacco before you choose.

Which Route Fits Your Store?

The table answers by check. This quiz crosses the things that change your route: what you have been told to do, your plan, who does the work and whether Shop matters to you. It does not decide what your licence requires.

Will an Age Verification App Take You Off Shop?

Two separate rules apply here, and they are easy to merge into one. One is about what you sell; the other is about what you have installed.

The app rule is the one that costs you something. If everything you sell is prohibited on Shop, it changes nothing. If you also sell approved products, those stay on Shop only while your store meets the requirements, so an age verification app puts them at stake.

If you change your store to meet these requirements, Shopify says it can take up to 48 hours for the changes to take effect and for your approval status to update.

The rule names apps and does not mention age popups in theme code. Don't read that as a safe route: the same page warns that "Some Shop eligibility checks might not be displayed on this page."

The one exception Shopify names is Locksmith, a password control app, whose locked products stay hidden on your Shop Store. Shopify names it as password control, not as an age check. Gating by password or account is covered in our members-only store guide.

For the rest of what Shop checks, see the eight requirements in plain terms.

What Four Age Verification Listings Claim

These four are the listings we read in full, not a ranking and not the whole category. We installed none of them.

To look wider, search the App Store and read each card's plan line first. For the checkout route, Shopify's help page links a second place to look: the App Store's apps for extending your checkout.

Shopify App Store search results for age verification

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Tag the Products the Gate Covers

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products and open a restricted product.
2. In the Tags field, enter age-restricted.
3. Click Save, then repeat for each product the check should cover.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Products
2. Product

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Shopify says tags can hold only letters, numbers and hyphens, and that they aren't displayed to customers. Type the tag exactly as shown if you plan to use the snippet below, because it looks for that text.

Whether a gate obeys the tag depends on the gate. The snippet reads it directly through product.tags. BlueCheck's listing ties "Verification settings using product tags" to its Large plan, and NA Age Verification's Plus plan lists "Show popup on specific pages". Check inside any app before you rely on a tag.

How to Add an Age Verification Popup

Most merchants should start with the app route, because that is what Shopify's own guidance points to first. Use code when you have a reason to run without an app and someone to maintain it.

Add the Popup With an App

1. Log in to the Shopify App Store, search for an app and open its listing.
2. Click Install. On the Install app screen, review the data the app can access and follow the link to the developer's Privacy Policy.
3. Click Install to authorize it. The app then appears on the Apps page in your admin.
4. Open the app and choose the question type and the pages it covers. These screens are the developer's, so follow its setup notes.
5. If no popup appears, go to Online Store, open your theme in the editor, click the App embeds icon and turn on the app's toggle, then preview your store.
6. Run every row of the test table. Our test covers only our snippet, not any app.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Online Store
2. Themes
3. Customize

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Shopify describes app embeds as elements that "float or display as an overlay in your theme", which is the shape of a popup. The listings don't say which apps use one: NA Age Verification's says only that it installs automatically.

Add the Popup in Your Theme Code

Shopify's code editor guide says to edit code only "if you can't make the changes that you need by using a Shopify app or by using the theme editor". It also warns that if your code changes are incompatible with a theme update, all your code changes are removed in the updated copy, and that a paid theme must be purchased before you can edit its code.

1. Go to Online Store, open the theme's menu and click Duplicate. Duplicating gives you a copy to work on; at 20 themes you must delete one first.
2. On the copy, open the menu and click Edit code.
3. Select the snippets folder, click the New file icon, name it age-gate.liquid and paste the first block below.
4. Open layout/theme.liquid, paste the second block directly above the closing </body> tag, then click Save.
5. Preview the copy on a tagged and an untagged product, run the test table, then publish the copy.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Online Store
2. Themes

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In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Online Store
2. Themes
3. Edit code

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The first block goes in snippets/age-gate.liquid:

{% comment %} snippets/age-gate.liquid: self-declared gate for products tagged age-restricted {% endcomment %}
{% if product and product.tags contains 'age-restricted' %}
  <dialog id="age-gate" aria-labelledby="age-gate-title">
    <h2 id="age-gate-title">Are you of legal age to buy this product?</h2>
    <button type="button" data-age-yes>Yes, I am</button>
    <a href="{{ routes.root_url }}">No, take me back</a>
  </dialog>
  <script>
    (function () {
      var key = 'ageGateConfirmed';
      var gate = document.getElementById('age-gate');
      if (!gate || localStorage.getItem(key) === 'yes') return;
      gate.showModal();
      gate.addEventListener('cancel', function (event) { event.preventDefault(); });
      gate.querySelector('[data-age-yes]').addEventListener('click', function () {
        localStorage.setItem(key, 'yes');
        gate.close();
      });
    })();
  </script>
{% endif %}

The second goes in layout/theme.liquid:

{% render 'age-gate', product: product %}

Storefront product page behind a modal dialog asking whether the shopper is of legal age

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This code shows the question only on a tagged product's page. We tried other ways into a cart: see our test.

By its design, the snippet keeps the answer in that browser's localStorage, with no expiry, and writes nothing to the order. It also carries no styling, so add your own CSS and change the question to your wording.

The code editor frame above shows Horizon, Shopify's flagship theme since 2025, and other themes can arrange their files differently.

If nobody on your team edits code, read whether Shopify Support will do it before you plan on free help.

How to Stop the Order at Checkout

A popup in your theme runs on pages your theme renders. Shopify's checkout documentation says checkout.liquid "is now unsupported for the Information, Shipping, and Payment checkout steps", so theme code is not a way in. Paths that skip the product page altogether are in our test.

Which Tool Your Plan Allows

Below Plus, your route is a public App Store app. The two listings in the next section that claim a checkout block don't say whether it is a Shopify Function.

The tool behind a real block is the Cart and Checkout Validation Function. Shopify's API docs list this among its use cases: "Verify the age or ID of a customer when they proceed through checkout." It is an example for developers to build, not a switch in your admin.

What it does is narrow. Validation functions "run on Shopify's servers and can block checkout progress", and they show the message you set; the API docs say this includes express checkouts such as Shop Pay, PayPal, Google Pay and Apple Pay. For the wider picture, see who gets what at the Plus line.

Use an App From the App Store

1. Shortlist from the listings. NA Age Verification's Pro plan lists "Disable checkout button until verified", and its screenshots show that check on the product and cart pages, with one reading "Shopify Plus stores can do in-checkout age verification"; EM's Free plan lists "Stop checkout button until age checked", and one of its screenshots shows a "Cart checkout buttons guard" for the checkout button on the cart and product pages, with a checkout payment page option marked "For Shopify Plus".
2. Ask the developer before you pay: is the block a Shopify Function, does it work on my plan, does it stop Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, and does it stop a direct cart link and Quick add?
3. Install the app using the steps above.
4. If the app gives you a checkout block, go to Settings > Checkout and click Edit next to your configuration; blocks on the information, shipping and payment pages need Shopify Plus.
5. In the editor, select the page, open the Sections panel, click Add block in the section you want and pick the block. Shopify says you need this step after installing such an app.
6. Run every row of the test table.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Checkout

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In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Checkout
3. Edit

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On Plus: Brief a Custom Validation

Custom apps with Function APIs are for Plus stores only. We don't give build steps here, because the API reference is the source for those. Put these five points in the brief:

• Where the age comes from. The Function blocks and shows a message. A new field on the information, shipping or payment steps takes a checkout UI extension, which is also Plus-only.
• What the message says. You set the text, and which checkout field it targets or whether it applies to the whole cart.
• Which surfaces it covers. The API lists Cart, Checkout and Storefront Accelerated Checkout among the supported surfaces, and POS, Create Order API, Order Edit, Pre-order and Try Before You Buy, and Subscription (Recurring Orders) as not supported. In-person sales need their own answer.
• Room on your store. You can activate a maximum of 25 validation functions per store.
• Where the result is kept. Decide this now, against the record your requirement asks for.

If you have no developer, Shopify points merchants to its Partner Directory.

How to Add an ID or Data Check

Everything about these two apps below comes from their listings. We did not run either one, so treat each step as what to confirm, not what you will find.

1. Read before you install. The Install app screen lists the data the app can access and links the developer's Privacy Policy. For ID data, read that policy, and ask how long documents are kept if it doesn't say.
2. Match the app to your market. BlueCheck lists rules by US state, and its gallery adds international rules; its SSN last 4 option is a US check. Its title says it works before and after checkout, and its listing says it verifies without interrupting checkout. One of its screenshots labels before- or after-checkout verification "Plus only", so ask whether that label means Shopify Plus and where the check falls on your plan.
3. Size the plan. Count the orders that need a check each month, using the table below for BlueCheck. EM lists 500 credits a month on PLUS, $50, and one of its screenshots puts an ID upload at 25 credits per verification and a live selfie, matched to the ID photo, at 20.
4. Use the trial. BlueCheck lists a 14-day free trial on each plan. Run the test table inside it.
5. Find the result on an order. BlueCheck lists order tags: "Age verified, failed, required, not required, & shipping blocked". Confirm on a test order that yours shows what you need to keep.

At these listing prices, Small and Medium cost the same at 85 verifications a month: $25 plus 60 extra at $1.25 comes to $100. Below 85 a month, Small is cheaper than Medium; above it, Medium is cheaper than Small.

EM's PLUS plan also lists "KYC/AML/Privacy compliant". That is the developer's description, which we did not verify.

How to Test the Gate Before You Trust It

Run this on whichever route you chose. A row that fails tells you where your check stops, and only your requirement can say whether that is acceptable.

For the direct cart link, Shopify documents the cart permalink form, and you can find a product's variant ID in your admin.

Placing a test order has its own steps. Shopify warns that customers can't place live orders while your payment providers are in test mode, so choose a quiet time and turn test mode off afterwards.

The last row is easy to miss. The snippet in this guide stores its answer in the browser by design, so the order shows nothing. For an app, check it yourself: NA Age Verification's Pro plan lists order notes and BlueCheck's listing lists order tags, and what that record is worth is a question for whoever set your requirement.

How to Remove the Gate Cleanly

1. Check the listing or ask the developer for extra uninstall steps. Shopify warns that some apps add code to your theme "that isn't automatically removed".
2. Export anything you need to keep, such as verification records the app holds.
3. Go to Settings > Apps, open the app's menu and click Uninstall.
4. Rerun the first rows of the test table to confirm the popup is gone.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Apps

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Uninstalling a paid app cancels future recurring charges, though Shopify says you might still be billed for the current cycle, and uninstalling doesn't cancel charges the app bills outside Shopify.

For the snippet, delete snippets/age-gate.liquid and the render line in layout/theme.liquid, or publish your original theme again. If you left Shop's requirements while the gate was live, allow up to 48 hours for your approval status to update.

Does an Age Popup Hurt SEO?

Shopify relays this in its web performance overview, where one of the factors it lists is:

Treat this as a known cost, not a reason to drop a check you are required to have. What you can control is scope: a gate on tagged products leaves the rest of your store clear, while it still covers those product pages. The rest of your page speed work is in our speed optimization guide.

Your Age Verification Rollout Checklist

Step four is the only one that differs by route, so use the section for your check there. Don't skip step five because step four looked right on the product page: the product page is only one way in.

The Bottom Line

What separates these tools is what they prove, not how they install, and a popup can look finished long before every way in is covered.

Frequently Asked Questions