Apple shuts the nudify loophole
Under the revised App Review Guidelines, published on October 16, developers must now proactively prevent and remove nonconsensual intimate imagery, including deepfakes made with AI tools.
Apple has updated its App Store rules to go after AI “nudify” apps that turn ordinary photos of real people into sexually explicit images without their consent. Apps that fail to do so risk being pulled from the store.
Guideline 1.2, which covers user-generated content, now names AI content creation apps alongside social media platforms and lists nonconsensual intimate imagery as a specific risk. Then came the Grok episode, where xAI’s chatbot was used to generate sexualised deepfakes of women and minors, and Apple warned the company that the app could be removed. xAI added safeguards, and Apple approved an updated version.
“We do not hesitate to remove apps, and terminate the developers behind them, when they violate these guidelines,” Apple said in its note to developers. Pornographic content was already banned on the App Store. What changes now is who does the policing. These apps must filter objectionable material, let users report offensive content, block abusive accounts and publish contact details. Developers who skip adequate safeguards, or don’t fix violations after Apple flags them, may be treated as breaching the Developer Code of Conduct. Egregious or repeated cases can get an app removed and the developer expelled from the Apple Developer Program. Apple ties it directly to bait-and-switch apps that pass review looking harmless and reveal nudification tools only after approval. Concealing features through code obfuscation can now get an app removed and the developer’s account terminated. The changes follow months of pressure. In January, the Tech Transparency Project found dozens of nudify apps on the App Store. In July, San Francisco officials ordered Apple to take down several such apps, which it did.