Apple and Google Tighten AI Companion App Rules

Apple App Store rules: what changed on October 16, 2026

Apple's developer news post and its guidelines page (marked "Last Updated: October 16, 2026") list three relevant changes.

• Guideline 1.2. Apps with user-generated or AI content already needed a filter, a reporting mechanism, a way to block abusive users and published contact details. Apple now says moderation explicitly covers nonconsensual intimate imagery, including imagery generated using AI tools. Developers without adequate safeguards, or who do not fix violations after notice, risk breaching the Developer Code of Conduct and removal from the App Store.
• Guideline 2.5.19. Apps must not include hidden, dormant or undocumented features. Apple describes it as clarifying a longstanding ban on apps that misrepresent themselves in App Review and change after approval, with removal from the App Store and the Apple Developer Program as the penalty.
• Section 5. Apple says apps tied to child exploitation are removed and blocked from alternative distribution.

Older rules still apply: 1.1.4 covers overtly sexual or pornographic material, and 1.2 says apps used primarily for pornographic content do not belong on the App Store. Incidental mature content from a web service must be hidden by default and enabled through the website.

What Google Play asked of generative AI apps on August 25, 2026

An Android Developers Blog post says Play prohibits facilitating, creating or distributing non-consensual sexual content. Google says it is repeatedly testing generative AI apps and will cut off monetization for apps removed for such content. It asks developers to let reviewers reach premium AI features, not blocked by paywalls or geo-fences, and to keep documentation showing their models reject nudify, undress, deepfake and explicit image-edit requests.

These sit on top of Play's AI-Generated Content policy, which counts chatbots as AI-generated content and requires in-app reporting. The Register's coverage of a January 2026 Tech Transparency Project report said it found 55 Play and 47 App Store nudify apps; Google said most were suspended and Apple removed 25.

Apple's 18+ age rating tier

Apple's July 24, 2025 developer post added 13+, 16+ and 18+ ratings to 4+ and 9+. Developers had until January 31, 2026 to answer new questions and can set a higher minimum age than the computed rating; Apple reminded them to consider how chatbot functionality affects sensitive content. The App Store pages for Character.AI, Kindroid, Nomi, Janitor AI and Chai show Age Rating 18+. Google Play shows Mature 17+ for Kindroid, Janitor AI and Chai. Ratings come from a developer questionnaire and do not prove what an app allows.

What it means for companion apps with adult content

This section is our reading, not Apple's or Google's. As of October 20 we found no companion app attributing a change to the October 16 update.

• Image generation is the exposed area. Both stores single out nonconsensual intimate imagery. Apps that generate images need documented refusals, and Apple's 2.5.19 means features cannot be switched on after review.
• Store apps already differ from web apps. Janitor AI says its mobile apps default to a Restricted Mode for store compliance, and Kindroid applies stricter image rules in its iOS and Android apps than on the web. SpicyChat's iOS app was removed in August 2025; its notice says Apple found it did not comply, and subscribers were told to resubscribe on the web.
• The website is outside store review. Browser versions are not distributed through the stores, so these rules do not apply to them directly.

For adult content in particular, see NSFW AI girlfriend apps, image generation, and our iPhone, Android and web lists. More stories are in our news hub.