Apple updates App Review Guidelines against AI nudify apps
Nonconsensual intimate imagery named in 1.2, new 2.5.19 bans hidden or dormant features revealed after review
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- 17 October 2026
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Key facts
- 1.2 now lists ‘nonconsensual intimate imagery’ among the particular challenges of user-generated-content apps, alongside IP infringement and anonymous bullying; developers who don’t add protections or fix flagged violations may be treated as violating the Developer Code of Conduct
- New 2.5.19: ‘Don’t include any hidden, dormant, or undocumented features in your app’; hiding functionality in the binary, including through obfuscation, can lead to App Store removal and developer-account termination (makes 2.3.1 more explicit)
- Apple’s stated concern: apps that ‘misrepresent their purpose during review and only reveal harmful capabilities’ after approval, such as nudification
- The guideline text itself does not mention AI; 9to5Mac ties the change to AI nudify apps
What happened
Apple tightened its App Store rules on AI “nudify” apps, which generate fake nude images of real people. Some passed review by hiding the feature and enabled it later. The new rules name nonconsensual intimate imagery explicitly and ban hidden or dormant functionality.
Why it matters
Platform gatekeepers are acting against nudification while state bans are tied up in court (Minnesota’s law is blocked by the 8th Circuit) and AI-generated abuse imagery is rising.
Sources
1 source from 1 site. Numbers match the chips in the text.
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