Core concepts
Understanding k-ID's core concepts is essential for building compliant applications that properly handle age verification, parental consent, and user permissions. These concepts bridge the gap between legal requirements and technical implementation, helping you understand both why certain compliance measures are needed and how to implement them correctly.
Why these concepts matter
Compliance with regulations such as COPPA, GDPR-K, and various regional laws requires understanding both the legal framework and the technical mechanisms that support compliance. k-ID's concepts map legal requirements to technical implementations, ensuring that your application:
- Meets regulatory requirements across 200+ markets
- Protects users appropriately based on their age and jurisdiction
- Handles consent correctly when parental approval is required
- Manages permissions effectively for different user types
Core concepts
Age and jurisdiction fundamentals
- Age signals: Understanding what age signals are and how to provide them to k-ID
- Jurisdictions: How geographic regions affect compliance requirements and age thresholds
- Age assurance: The process of verifying or estimating a user's age to ensure compliance
Access, features, and consent
The following concepts are essential for implementing Verifiable Parental Consent (VPC) flows:
- Sessions: Long-lived objects that track player permissions and age status
- Permissions: How to control access to game features based on age and consent
- Challenges: How consent challenges work when parental approval is required
- Verifiable Parental Consent (VPC): The regulatory requirement and process for obtaining parental consent
- Age gate: The mechanism for collecting and verifying user age
- Permissions upgrade: Requesting additional permissions after initial consent
- Trusted adult preferences: How parents configure consent and permission preferences
- Data-lite mode: Providing limited access while waiting for parental consent
- Essential features: Features required for a product to function, even if they require consent
Data and privacy
- Data notices: Disclosures about data collection, use, and sharing, and what data k-ID stores
Advanced scenarios
- Multi-product approval: Allowing parents to approve multiple products in a single consent flow
Getting started
If you're new to k-ID, start with these foundational concepts:
- Age signals - Understand what age information k-ID needs
- Jurisdictions - Learn how location affects compliance
- Sessions - Understand how permissions are tracked
- VPC - Learn how parental consent works
For more implementation guidance, see the Get started section or choose your integration approach in Choose integration.