Apple tightens App Store rules on AI nudify apps

Apple revised its App Review Guidelines on Friday, Oct. 16. The update makes clear that apps must actively prevent and remove nonconsensual intimate imagery, including images made with AI tools. Apple also tightened its rules against "bait-and-switch" apps that pass review and then reveal hidden features. The changes come after a year of reports that AI "nudify" apps were getting through Apple's review process.

What changed

Apple's developer announcement says content moderation requirements under guideline 1.2 "now explicitly cover nonconsensual intimate imagery — including imagery generated using AI tools." Developers who lack adequate safeguards, or who don't fix violations after notice, risk breaching the Developer Code of Conduct and losing their place on the App Store. The revised wording of 1.2 now covers apps that let users "create, generate, upload, share, or otherwise contribute" content, 9to5Mac reported.9to5mac.com+1

The new guideline 2.5.19 says apps must not include "hidden, dormant, or undocumented features." It adds that trying to hide such features in an app binary "through code obfuscation or other methods" is grounds for removing the app and terminating the developer's account, according to the updated guidelines. Apple says the rule clarifies a long-standing policy that used to sit under guideline 2.3.1. TECHi noted that the reference to code obfuscation did not appear in the Oct. 11 version of the guidelines.developer.apple.com+2

Apple links the rule to apps that "only reveal harmful capabilities — such as 'nudification' — after approval," MacRumors reported. Apple also updated Section 5. Apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation, including child sexual abuse material, "will be removed from the App Store and blocked from alternative distribution," the company said.developer.apple.com+1

Mounting pressure

In January, the Tech Transparency Project found dozens of AI nudify apps on the App Store. In April, a follow-up report found that Apple's search suggestions and ads were steering users toward such apps. In July, San Francisco officials ordered Apple to remove eight apps, 9to5Mac reported. After a report alleged that Apple and Google promoted these apps, Apple told CNET it had removed 15 flagged apps and warned six other developers. Apple also faced calls to pull X and Grok from the App Store after Grok was used to make sexualized images of women and minors.cnet.com+1

Apple's enforcement claims

Apple says it stopped more than 150,000 apps with safety issues from reaching customers last year and terminated more than 193,000 developer accounts for fraud and abuse. It blames "malicious actors — in some cases coordinated fraud operations" that hide harmful content until after an app is approved. "We do not hesitate to remove apps, and terminate the developers behind them, when they violate these guidelines," Apple wrote.developer.apple.com