Children and Age Policy

1. You must be 16 or over

Plumped is not for children under 16. You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or to use the Service.

We set the limit at 16 deliberately. It is the highest age of consent for online services anywhere in the European Economic Area, which means the same rule works in every country we serve and nobody has to guess.

2. Users aged 16 and 17 are still children

Under UK data protection law, anyone under 18 is a child. The Information Commissioner's Office Age Appropriate Design Code applies to services likely to be accessed by children, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 added specific duties toward children for online services.

If you are 16 or 17, we apply additional protections automatically. You do not have to ask for them and you cannot be talked out of them.

3. How we check age

At registration we ask for your date of birth. We do not let an account be created where the date of birth given shows an age under 16.

We know a self-declared date of birth is not proof. We use it as a proportionate measure alongside:

• clear signposting in the app stores that Plumped is rated for users aged 16 and over;
• reviewing signals that suggest an account holder is under 16 and acting on them;
• responding promptly to reports from parents, guardians and others.

We do not require identity documents or a face-based age check to open an account, because collecting more sensitive data in order to protect people would not be proportionate for a skincare app.

4. If we find an account belonging to someone under 16

We will suspend the account, delete the personal data including any photographs, and confirm the deletion to the email address on the account.

We do this as soon as we become aware, and we do not require proof from the person reporting it before we investigate.

5. For parents and guardians

If you believe your child under 16 has created an account, contact us at operations@plumped.co.uk. Tell us the email address used if you know it. We will investigate and delete the account and its data.

If your child is 16 or 17 and you want to know what we hold, or you want it deleted, contact the same address. We will take your request seriously and we will also take your child's own views and their right to privacy into account, which may mean we contact them as well. This is what UK data protection law requires of us.

6. Safety guidance for younger users

If you are 16 or 17, three things are worth knowing.

Strong active ingredients need care. Retinoids, acids and benzoyl peroxide can damage skin if used too much or too soon. Please talk to a pharmacist, a doctor or a parent before starting them. See the Health Disclaimer.

Plumped cannot diagnose anything. If a skin problem is bothering you, upsetting you, or getting worse, see a doctor. Acne in particular is very treatable with proper medical help, and there is nothing embarrassing about asking for it.

Skin scores are not a judgement of you. The numbers describe a photograph in a particular light on a particular day. They are not a measure of how you look, and they are certainly not a measure of your worth. If using Plumped is making you feel worse about yourself rather than better informed, please stop using it and talk to someone you trust.

7. Community features

Plumped does not currently have community, sharing or messaging features.

If we add them, we will assess the risk to young users before launch and will not enable open sharing of facial photographs for users under 18 by default.

8. Contact