Age Verification Policy

TECKHEADS is a product of Nairly, its parent business. Nairly is operated by Jaeon George Bucknall, a sole trader based in Mayfair, London, UK.

Last updated: 07/10/2026. Effective date: 07/10/2026.

This Age Verification Policy explains how TECKHEADS, operated by Nairly, checks the age of people who join, and what we do with the information. It forms part of our Terms of Service and should be read alongside our Privacy Policy.

1. Who Can Join

TECKHEADS is for people aged 16 and over, in every country. The minimum age is the same everywhere. What can differ by country is how strongly we check your age: in some places a date of birth is enough, and in others the law requires an extra age check.

2. Why We Collect Your Date of Birth

TECKHEADS is a community for people building technology, with messaging, profiles, and user-generated content. We collect your date of birth so that we can keep the community safe and apply the right safety, privacy, and payment settings for your age and country. We never show your date of birth or your age on your profile.

3. How We Check Your Age

3.1 Date of Birth

When you create an account you enter your full date of birth, and, if you wish, your country of residence. If you do not choose a country, we use the region detected on your device. We calculate your age from the full date, not only the year.

3.2 Extra Age Checks Where the Law Requires Them

In countries where the law requires stronger age assurance, such as the UK and Australia, we ask you to confirm your age in an extra step before your account is created. You can choose one of these methods:

Face age estimate: you take a selfie, which takes about 10 seconds;
Photo ID: a passport or driving licence;
Bank or mobile check: you confirm through your bank or mobile network.

These checks are run by an independent age assurance provider, using its own secure flow. TECKHEADS receives only the result: whether you passed or failed, the method used, the provider, the time of the check, and a reference number. We never receive or store your selfie, your ID document, or your full ID number. The provider deletes your image or documents promptly after the check, in line with its contract with us.

3.3 Inconclusive Results

If a face age estimate is inconclusive, for example because you appear close to the age limit, we will offer you the photo ID or bank or mobile route instead of failing you outright.

3.4 Unsuccessful Checks

If you do not pass an age check, you will not be able to join. We limit how many times a check can be retried (for example, a small number of attempts per device per day). If you believe the result is incorrect, you can appeal by contacting Nairlysupport@gmail.com.

4. If You Are Under 16

You will see a message explaining that you are not yet eligible to join, and no account is created. The email, code, and date of birth you entered are cleared.
To stop someone trying again immediately with a different date of birth, we keep a hashed device identifier and a timestamp for 24 hours. We do not keep the date of birth that was entered, and we do not keep anything that identifies you personally.
If we learn that an existing account belongs to someone under 16, we will close it and remove its data.

5. Default Settings for Users Aged 16 and 17

If you are 16 or 17, we apply stricter defaults to help protect you:

direct messages from people you have not synced with are off by default;
you are not shown in Recommended builders to adults you have not synced with;
location and contact discovery are off by default;
stricter content filters apply;
you cannot receive Support payouts until you are 18, or the minimum age in your country if that is higher;
paid subscriptions can only be bought where the App Store or Google Play's family and parental controls allow it.

We recalculate your age group each time you sign in, so when you turn 18 your settings move to the standard defaults automatically.

6. Age and Payments

TECKHEADS is 16 and over, but receiving Support payouts needs identity verification and requires you to be at least 18 (or the minimum age in your country for receiving payments, if higher). Our payment partner, Stripe, checks your date of birth against your ID. If it differs from the date you gave at sign-up, we use Stripe's date, update your age settings, and review your account. If it shows you are under 16, we will close the account. See our Support and Payouts Terms for detail.

7. Reporting an Account That May Belong to Someone Under

16 You can report a profile, post, or message using the reason "This person may be under 16". We review the report, and a moderator may ask the account holder to confirm their age through an age check within 7 days. If the account holder is confirmed to be under 16, or does not respond, we close the account and delete its data.

8. Your Data

Date of birth: kept, encrypted, while your account exists.
Age check result (pass or fail, method, provider, time, and reference): kept while your account exists.
Selfies and ID documents: never stored by TECKHEADS. The age assurance provider deletes them under its contract with us.
Blocked under-16 attempts: a hashed device identifier and timestamp, kept for 24 hours.
Decision records: we keep a record of each age decision (who made it, when, the method, and the result), but never the raw images or documents.
Deleted accounts: all age data is removed within 30 days.

See our Privacy Policy, available in the Privacy Policy section of Legal, Data & Account Deletion, for how we handle personal data more generally.

9. Changes to This Policy

Age assurance laws are changing, so the countries where we require an extra check, and the methods we offer, may change. We may update this Policy to reflect that. Material changes will be notified in accordance with our Terms of Service.

10. Contact Us

Questions about age checks, or a request to appeal a result, can be directed to Nairlysupport@gmail.com.