Apple has revised its App Store policies to directly address AI-generated intimate images made or shared without a person’s consent. The company also added a rule aimed at apps that conceal features from reviewers and activate them after approval.
The changes expand guideline 1.2, which covers objectionable content, to include applications that generate or distribute nonconsensual AI-created intimate imagery. Apple expects developers to prevent prohibited deepfake material and remove it when it appears, as first reported by Engadget.
Developers face removal over sexualized deepfakes
AI nudification tools can create sexualized images of identifiable people without permission. Apple already barred sexually explicit content, yet the revised language puts AI-generated abuse explicitly inside its enforcement framework and gives the company a clearer basis to act against services that host or produce it.
Apple’s developer announcement says it can remove apps that violate the rules and terminate the associated developers’ participation in its programs. The guidance could affect AI products such as xAI’s Grok, which users have reported using to create sexualized deepfakes. Apple previously warned xAI that it could remove Grok over nude deepfakes; xAI later added safeguards and won approval for a revised version.
Apple also targets post-review feature switches
New guideline 2.5.19 warns that Apple may remove an application when it includes functionality absent from the version submitted for review. The rule specifically calls out image-altering and sexualized features hidden until after approval, a practice often called bait-and-switch.
That matters because Apple’s review process depends on developers showing the capabilities they plan to offer. Hidden tools can let an app pass review under one set of claims, then expose iPhone users to content or functions Apple would otherwise reject.
Apple also extended its ban on apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation to alternative app marketplaces. Developers operating beyond Apple’s main storefront therefore face the same prohibition under the updated policy language.
Apple has not publicly identified which apps it will investigate or remove under the revised rules, and the policy summaries do not state when the changes took effect. It also remains unclear how the company will detect concealed functionality or enforce these requirements across alternative marketplaces.
This article was produced with AI assistance from multi-source reporting and is published under our editorial standards.
