AI news · Apple · app rules
Apple tightens App Store rules on AI nudify apps
Developers must now block and remove AI-made intimate images of people shared without consent, or face removal from the store.
Apple has rewritten part of its App Store rules for the age of AI image tools. Apple told developers on Friday 16 October 2026 that apps must now work to stop intimate images of people made or shared without their consent, and take down any that get through. Pictures made with AI count. An app with weak protections, or one whose developer ignores a warning, can lose its place on the store.
Guideline 2.5.19 spells out an older ban on apps that change after approval. Some so-called nudify apps, which turn photos of real people into sexual images, pass Apple’s checks looking harmless and add the feature later. Offenders lose both their store listing and their membership of the Apple Developer Program.
Apple says its checks kept over 150,000 unsafe apps away from customers last year.
The update follows heavy criticism this year over sexual deepfakes that X users made with Grok, The Verge reports. Apple has already pulled 13 nudify apps, it says, after a San Francisco city attorney ordered it to in July.
If your app lets people edit photos of faces with AI, Apple now expects you to stop abusive images before they spread.
Sources
- Apple Developer: Strengthening App Review Guidelines against nonconsensual intimate imagery and bait-and-switch apps. Checked
- The Verge: Apple’s updated App Store rules go after ‘nudify’ AI apps. Checked
Alexandre S.
Alexandre S. is a creative ad strategist and copywriter with ten years' experience in digital marketing across multiple channels.
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