Apple quietly rewrote its App Store rules on Friday. The new text explicitly bans apps that create intimate images of people without their consent.
The change closes a gap that critics had flagged for most of the year. Apple now requires developers to “proactively prevent and remove” nonconsensual sexual images.
Apps that “fail to implement adequate safeguards” can be pulled from the store. So can apps that “don’t remedy violations after notice,” according to the updated guidelines.
Apple also clarified its existing ban on “bait-and-switch” apps. Those are apps that add or change features, including “nudification,” after they pass review.
The revision follows months of criticism over X and Grok. Users had turned to Grok’s image tools to generate sexualized deepfakes of real people, including minors.
Apple did not remove X or Grok from the App Store. It told senators that it had threatened to yank Grok, The Verge reported.
Pressure built through the summer. Protesters at Apple’s WWDC event in June called on the company to remove Grok, X, and every nudify tool.
In July, San Francisco’s city attorney ordered Apple to remove 13 nudify apps. Apple said it complied with the order.
The problem is bigger than a single app. A January report from the Tech Transparency Project found 55 nudify apps on Google Play and 48 on Apple’s store.
Those apps had been downloaded more than 705 million times worldwide. They generated roughly $117 million in revenue, the report said.
Apple removed 28 of the flagged apps. Google suspended “several,” and regulators in the EU and UK opened investigations into Grok and X.
The new rules also target trafficking and child exploitation. Apps that facilitate either will be pulled and “blocked from alternative distribution.”
That last clause matters in Europe. Alternative app marketplaces are now permitted there under the Digital Markets Act, so a store ban alone no longer removes an app from a device.
Enforcement remains the open question. Apple has promised strict review before, and nudify apps have still reached users at enormous scale.
The guidelines took effect as part of a Friday news dump. Apple published them alongside other updates that companies often release late in the week.
Developers now carry more of the burden. They must show moderation systems that catch abusive image generation before it reaches the store.
For related coverage, read how websites and banks are shutting out AI agents, or how Meta deleted a clause that critics said allowed AI scraping.
Source: The Verge — Apple’s updated App Store rules go after ‘nudify’ AI apps
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