Apple updated its App Store rules on Friday to explicitly prohibit apps that produce nonconsensual intimate imagery, tightening requirements on developers whose software can generate sexualized depictions of people without their consent. The changes give the company clearer grounds to act against so-called nudify apps, which have drawn increasing scrutiny from users, officials, and protesters.
Under the revised terms, developers must actively prevent and remove nonconsensual sexual images as part of Apple's content moderation requirements for App Store apps. The company said developers who fail to put adequate safeguards in place, or who do not fix violations after being notified, could be removed from the App Store. Apple also clarified an existing rule against bait-and-switch apps, covering software that adds or changes features, including nudification, after it has been approved.
The rules additionally state more clearly that apps facilitating human trafficking or the exploitation of children will be pulled from the App Store and blocked from alternative distribution. The update follows mounting criticism of Apple after X users employed Grok earlier this year to create nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes, including of minors. Apple did not remove X or Grok from the App Store, though it told senators it had threatened to pull Grok.
Pressure on the company has come from several directions. At Apple's WWDC event in June, protesters urged Apple to remove Grok, X, and all nudify technology from the App Store. In July, a San Francisco city attorney ordered Apple to remove 13 nudify apps, which the company said it did.
The revised guidelines apply to all developers distributing software through Apple's App Store, the sole channel for native iPhone apps in the United States. Apple's move puts app review policy at the center of the debate over AI tools that can alter or fabricate images of real people, a category that has prompted legal and regulatory attention. The company has not said how it will enforce the new language beyond the review and removal process described in the rules.
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