2026 GPEN Children's Privacy Report: Does Your Child Need to Provide an Email to Register for an App?

The OAIC reports that 59% of the children’s websites and mobile apps assessed required an email address to use full functionality, in a review covering nearly 900 sites and apps (OAIC’s summary of the GPEN findings). That finding in the 2026 GPEN children’s privacy report is a reason to check each app’s request—not a reason to assume every app requires an email or that an email field alone makes an app unsafe.

Suitable for: Parents registering a child for a game, learning service, or interest app who want to decide whether to provide an email.
Not a substitute for: Checking the app’s age rules, parental consent process, privacy practices, and the rules that apply where you live.

Decision: Provide an address only after you understand why the app needs it and how the account will use it. Keep a parent-accessible, lasting email route for consent, school or course notices, account recovery, and other ongoing responsibilities. An address that separates a low-stakes signup from your main inbox does not replace a privacy review or delete information already held by the app.

Last updated October 24, 2026. Report figures and limitations checked against the OAIC release and the GPEN sweep report.

Start with what the 2026 GPEN children’s privacy report actually says

The OAIC published its results on March 25, 2026. The results concern the 2025 Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) children’s privacy sweep. The OAIC says participants assessed nearly 900 websites and apps used by children and found that 59% required an email address to access full functionality. Read the OAIC results summary alongside the full GPEN report to understand the scope and limits of those findings.

That is a cross-platform observation, not a legal ruling, a ranking of individual apps, or evidence that a specific service has broken a rule. It does not tell you whether the app in front of you needs an email for login, verification, parental contact, or marketing. Check the app’s own signup flow and privacy information before deciding.

Is an email mandatory when your child registers for an app?

Treat “required for full functionality” as a prompt to inspect the field, not as proof that every feature or every account needs an address. Some services may make an email a condition of creating an account; others may ask for one for a particular feature or offer an alternative route. The app’s current registration instructions should tell you what is actually required.

What the app asks for	What to verify on the signup page	How to decide
Email marked required to create or access an account	Whether it is for login, verification, parent contact, recovery, or more than one purpose	Continue only if the purpose makes sense for the account and you can support the ongoing contact needs
Email requested for a parent or guardian	Who must receive the message and whether it relates to consent or account management	Use an address an adult responsible for the account can keep checking
Marketing updates or promotional messages	Whether the choice is optional and separate from account access	Leave it unchecked if you do not want promotional email
Email requested in a profile or personalization field	Whether the field is optional and what feature depends on it	Skip it if it is not needed for the service you intend your child to use
No clear alternative or explanation	Whether the app or school offers a supported registration method	Pause and ask the provider or school administrator before entering an address

Do not enter a false age or try to bypass an age check to avoid providing an email. The app’s age limits and any required parent-consent process remain separate questions. For U.S. families, the FTC’s explanation of which services may fall under COPPA can help you understand the U.S. scope; then check the rules relevant to your circumstances.

If an app says an address is required but does not say why, pause at the form. Ask the provider or school what the field supports before treating it as a harmless registration detail.

Check the email’s purpose before you decide

An email address can serve several different functions in one account. The label on the form may not explain them all. Look for a privacy notice, parent information page, or account help section that describes the role of the address.

What should you check when a children’s app asks for a parent’s email?

Check whether the address will be used for account access, verification, a parent or guardian contact, recovery, marketing, or another purpose. Then compare that explanation with what your child is trying to do. If the app asks for a parent email to support a consent or account-management step, that may be different from asking for an address to send promotions.

Look for whether the provider explains who can access the address and whether it may be shared with service providers or other third parties. If the wording is broad or unclear, do not infer that the platform is untrustworthy from the email request alone. Ask what the sharing involves and whether the address is necessary for the feature your child needs.

Check the child-facing explanation and the parent controls

A clear explanation should help you understand what information the service collects, what controls are available, and how to contact the provider with a privacy question. Notice whether the explanation is written for parents as well as children, and whether the app makes controls easy to find after registration.

Those checks do not settle whether the app’s age requirements or consent process are appropriate. The FTC explains that COPPA can apply to child-directed services and to other services with actual knowledge that they collect personal information from children under 13 (FTC guidance on COPPA’s scope). That is U.S. guidance, not a universal rule for every family or every service. Follow the app’s stated age rules and consent process; do not try to work around them.

Check what happens to the information after signup

An app’s email request is only one part of the decision. You also need to know what happens to the account and information if your child stops using the service.

Find the account and data deletion route

Search the app’s privacy notice and help pages for account deactivation, account deletion, personal information deletion, and a contact channel for privacy requests. These terms may describe different actions. Deleting an app from a device does not, by itself, show that the account or information held by the provider has been deleted.

Check whether the provider explains how to request deletion and what happens next. If the instructions are unclear, contact the provider through its official support route. If registration came through a school, ask the school administrator whether the school manages the account or has a separate process.

Do not assume that changing the registration email removes past account data. It changes the address associated with the account only if the service supports that change; it does not establish that the provider has erased earlier information.

Account situation	Better fit for the receiving address	Main trade-off
Parent consent, course or school notices, account recovery, or an account you expect to manage over time	A parent-controlled address that will remain accessible	Keeps essential messages reachable, but may put more app mail in the family inbox
A low-continuity signup with no important notices or recovery role, where the app allows another address	A separate address you can still access as needed	Can separate registration mail, but may complicate recovery or miss messages if you stop checking
A service that does not permit an alternative address or requires ongoing contact	The address required by the service, after reviewing its purpose and terms	You may need to accept the contact route or decide not to create the account
A service with unclear purpose, sharing, or deletion information	No address yet	Waiting to ask the provider or school avoids making a choice without the missing information

Choose an address based on how long the account must work

Think about account continuity before choosing a receiving address. If an adult needs to receive consent requests, school or course updates, security messages, or account recovery instructions, keep a reliable route under adult control. A temporary or seldom-checked address is a poor fit when missing a message could lock you out or leave an important request unanswered.

For a low-continuity account, an alternate address may help keep registration messages separate from household or school correspondence, but only if the app’s rules allow it and you can still meet its verification and recovery requirements. No address type guarantees acceptance by a platform or delivery of every message. For a broader comparison of family account choices, use this guide to choosing an address for account registration.

If you are trying to keep app signups from overwhelming the main family inbox, first distinguish that goal from protecting the child’s data at the platform. An alternate address can change where messages arrive; it cannot control what data the provider collects, how it uses that data, or whether it shares it. tmpone’s guide to privacy boundaries for temporary email explains why separating an address is not the same as removing broader privacy risks.

Use a registration timeline before you submit the form

Move through these checkpoints in order. If a key answer is missing, pause rather than entering an address simply to finish signup.

• Before opening the form: Confirm that the app is appropriate for your child’s age and that you understand its parent-consent steps. Check the provider’s privacy information and any school instructions that apply.
• At the email field: Establish whether the field is mandatory, what account function it supports, and whether a supported alternative exists. Separate required account contact from optional marketing or profile details.
• Before entering an address: Decide whether this account needs ongoing notices, parent access, or recovery. Keep a durable adult-managed address for those responsibilities; consider an alternate address only when the account is low-continuity and the platform permits it.
• After registration: Save the account-management and privacy-contact details somewhere a responsible adult can find them. Check whether the app offers parent controls and where its account settings live.
• When the child stops using the app: Follow the provider’s account and data deletion instructions. If the route is missing or confusing, ask the provider or school administrator. Removing the app from a device or changing its email is not confirmation that account data has been erased.

For help keeping the child’s login, parent contact, and recovery roles distinct, see this guide to safer app registration. Keeping those responsibilities clear can prevent a low-stakes signup choice from becoming an account-access problem later.

If the provider will not explain why it needs an email, how it uses the address, or how to close the account, delaying signup is a reasonable decision. If the account is optional and the answers remain unclear, you can choose not to create it. If it is required for school or another essential service, ask the school or provider for the supported registration path rather than substituting an address that could disrupt consent, notices, or recovery.

For a signup that is genuinely low-continuity and permits an alternate receiving address, tmpone is an option to review when you want to separate that registration from your main family email. Use it only when you can accept the account’s verification and recovery trade-offs. Keep a lasting, adult-accessible address for school notices, parental consent, and accounts your family may need to recover; an address choice can limit exposure of the main inbox, but it cannot replace checking the app’s privacy terms or deletion process.