Do browser settings, cookies, or logged-in Google accounts affect YouTube age prompts more than IP location?

1. How YouTube says it estimates age — account signals and machine learning

YouTube has publicly explained that it uses inferred age signals from machine learning in addition to account profile data, and that inferred or verified adult status is required to unlock some age‑restricted content; if the system infers a user is under 18 the user must verify via credit card or government ID to change that classification ^[1].

2. The role of the Google Account and browser session persistence

When users are signed into a Google account the account’s registered birthday and verification state are primary, persistent signals — changing IP does not change the birthdate stored on the account — and keeping a stable signed‑in browser session (cookies, local storage) helps YouTube apply that account signal without re‑prompting users ^[3].

3. Why IP location and regional policy still matter

YouTube’s rollout and legal compliance are regionally driven: companies enable stricter verification in specific countries or regions, and many practical workarounds discussed in the trade press rely on changing IP via a VPN because it makes the user appear to be in a jurisdiction where the checks are not in force ^{[2] [4]}.

4. How the signals interact in practice — conflict, triggers and friction

Several operational accounts and troubleshooting guides note that sudden geographic shifts (VPNs) can conflict with an account’s static profile and actually trigger extra security checks, two‑factor prompts or temporary session invalidation; conversely, an unsigned session with no account birthday may rely more heavily on IP and on behavioral inference, producing prompts based on geography or on the AI’s activity analysis ^{[3] [5]}.

5. What third‑party guides emphasize — and why to treat them skeptically

VPN and bypass guides uniformly promote IP‑spoofing as the simplest way around prompts because it can hide regional enforcement, but those sources have clear incentives to recommend VPNs and sometimes oversimplify YouTube’s layered systems; YouTube’s own blog stresses inference plus account verification options ^{[2] [1]}.

6. Bottom line: neither single factor dominates — context decides

For a signed‑in user with a filled‑out Google profile, account data and browser session persistence are the strongest determiners of whether an age prompt appears or recurs; for unsigned users or in countries where YouTube has activated region‑based AI checks, IP location can be the decisive trigger — and unusual combinations (e.g., a U.S. account seen from a foreign IP) can force additional verification rather than simply bypass it ^{[3] [1] [2]}.