Apple's App Store rules now cover AI intimate images and hidden features

On 16 October 2026, Apple published Strengthening App Review Guidelines against nonconsensual intimate imagery and bait-and-switch apps. The App Review Guidelines page says it was last updated the same day. The news post does not name a company or an app.

Apple writes that pornographic material has long been prohibited, including “nudification” apps that create sexually explicit images of real individuals without their consent, and that apps hosting user-generated content must filter objectionable material, offer a way to report it, and let users block abusive accounts.

Guideline 1.2

Apple’s news post says content-moderation requirements now explicitly cover nonconsensual intimate imagery, including imagery generated using AI tools, as content that apps must proactively prevent and remove. Developers who fail to implement adequate safeguards, or do not remedy violations after notice, risk violating the Developer Code of Conduct and being removed from the App Store.

The guideline text on the same day reads:

“Apps that enable users to create, generate, upload, share, or otherwise contribute content present particular challenges, including intellectual property infringement, nonconsensual intimate imagery, and anonymous bullying. This includes social media, user-generated content platforms, and AI content creation apps.”

Those apps must include a method for filtering objectionable material from being posted, a mechanism to report offensive content and timely responses to concerns, the ability to block abusive users, and published contact information.

Further down, guideline 1.2 says: “Developers who fail to implement appropriate safeguards or fail to remediate identified violations after notice may be considered in violation of the Developer Code of Conduct.” It also says egregious or repeated behavior is grounds for immediate removal of the app from the App Store and from the Apple Developer Program.

The news post says “adequate safeguards.” The guideline says “appropriate safeguards” and “fail to remediate identified violations after notice.” The line that binds a review is the guideline.

For an AI image app that lets people create or share pictures, the concrete change is that 1.2 now names nonconsensual intimate imagery and names AI content creation apps, and that Apple’s news post says this imagery must be proactively prevented and removed.

Guideline 2.5.19

The news post says Apple is clarifying a longstanding prohibition on apps that misrepresent what they do during review and then change after approval, for example by adding features that were not in the version submitted. It says apps found doing this are subject to removal from the App Store and removal from the Apple Developer Program. The post’s example of a hidden capability is “nudification,” which it calls a bait-and-switch: the app misrepresents its purpose during review and reveals the capability after approval.

Guideline 2.5.19 now says: “Don’t include any hidden, dormant, or undocumented features in your app; your app’s functionality should be clear to end users and App Review. Attempting to hide undocumented features in your app binary, such as through code obfuscation or other methods, is grounds for removal of your app from the App Store and termination of your developer account.”

The news post says “removal from the Apple Developer Program.” The guideline says “termination of your developer account.” Both are Apple’s. The guideline is the rule a reviewer applies.

9to5Mac calls 2.5.19 newly created. Guideline 2.3.1(a) already requires new features to be described in Notes for Review and accessible for review, and it already treats misleading marketing as grounds for removal and for termination of the developer account. The 2.5.19 sentence is the one that names hidden, dormant, or undocumented features, and code obfuscation.

Section 5

The news post says Section 5 now makes clear that apps facilitating human trafficking or the exploitation of children, including child sexual abuse material, will be removed from the App Store and blocked from alternative distribution.

Section 5 of the guidelines says: “In extreme cases, such as apps that are found to facilitate human trafficking and/or the exploitation of children, appropriate authorities will be notified and the apps will be removed from the App Store and blocked from alternative distribution.”

What Apple says about scale

Apple’s news post says that last year it prevented over 150K apps with safety issues from reaching customers and terminated over 193K developer accounts for fraud and abuse. Those counts are Apple’s. The post says the violations trace to actors working to conceal harmful content that becomes active once an app is approved, and that Apple removes the apps and terminates the developers when they violate the guidelines.

The Verge and MacRumors covered the update the same day. This account follows Apple’s pages for the rule text. Apple’s post does not name a developer. A Danish proposal on AI copies of a person’s face or voice is a separate bill.

For an AI image app, the review surface is those three lines: 1.2 names the imagery and the app category, 2.5.19 attaches removal and account termination to hidden features and obfuscation, and Section 5 extends the trafficking and child-exploitation removal to alternative distribution.

This is a news summary, not legal advice. The guideline text on Apple’s page is what App Review applies.