Some users on iOS 17.5 unable to turn on app tracking due to 'missing age information,' but there's a potential workaround

A number of iPhone users who updated to iOS 17.5 are reporting an issue that prevents them from enabling app tracking. When they navigate to the ‘Tracking’ settings, instead of being able to toggle the ‘Allow Apps to Request to Track’ option on or off, they are met with a grayed-out switch accompanied by a message stating ‘Apple ID is missing age information.’

With this message displayed, users are unable to turn on the setting that allows apps to request permission to track their activity across other companies’ apps and websites for advertising purposes. This age information issue seems to be preventing the tracking toggle from becoming available to interact with. Here’s a screenshot shared by a user for reference:

While Apple has not officially acknowledged this specific problem yet, multiple users across online forums and social media platforms like Reddit have been reporting and discussing this “missing age information” error over the last few days since iOS 17.5 started rolling out.

One potential workaround that some affected users claim has resolved the issue for them involves logging out and back into their Apple ID on their iPhone. The steps are:

1. Go to Settings > Your Profile banner > Sign Out.
2. Enter your Apple ID password when prompted and sign out fully.
3. Restart your iPhone.
4. After restarting, go back to Settings and sign back into your Apple ID.
5. Check the ‘Tracking’ settings again.

Note: If you have multiple Apple IDs, try signing off from one of the two and see if the issue persists. For instance, if you have a separate account for iCloud and another for Media and Purchases, sign out from either of the two and check again.

Multiple users have reported that after signing out, restarting, and signing back into their Apple ID, the ‘Apple ID is missing age information’ message disappeared, and they could finally enable or disable app tracking as intended by toggling the switch.

Same happened to me. I logged out of my iCloud and back in and it seems to have fixed it. (Source)

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My info is out there already. But singing out and back in seemed to work. Good luck to anyone still having that problem. (Source)

It’s unclear what is causing this age information issue, or why simply re-authenticating the Apple ID seems to clear it up for some. It may be a bug or unintended side effect introduced with iOS 17.5. Not all users encountering the problem have had success with this workaround either.

I am having the same issue as well. I have signed out and in of apple. Turned phone off and back on multiple times. Still not allowing the tracking to work. (Source)

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The same thing happened to me. Logging out and back in didn’t work. Super frustrating. (Source)

For those still unable to access the app tracking setting after trying this potential fix, the only recourse may be to wait for an official fix or clarification from Apple on what is causing the ‘missing age information’ error. Notably, I did spot a comment from someone with an iPhone X running iOS 16.7.8 who also had the same problem. So it’s possible that this might be a server-side glitch rather than a problem with iOS 17.5 itself.

This speculation can also be backed up by the fact that not all iOS 17.5 users are experiencing the problem. My iPhone 13 running iOS 17.5 lets me turn on and off ‘Tracking’ without any hassle.

Until then, some users may be stuck, being unable to change their current app tracking settings in iOS 17.5. While inconvenient, this does not impact core iOS functionality – it just prevents temporarily adjusting the specific setting that controls when apps can ask to track user activity across other apps and websites.

As is often the case with iOS issues, if the workaround provided does not resolve it for you, the best solution may be to be patient and await an official fix from Apple. I’ll keep track of the situation and will post an update if and when there are any notable developments.