Apple revised its App Review Guidelines on October 16, 2026, expanding App Store moderation rules to cover AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery and warning that apps with offending content can be removed if developers fail to act.
The updated Guideline 1.2 names AI content creation apps among those required to proactively prevent and remove AI-generated deepfakes. MacRumors notes the change could target apps like xAI's Grok: earlier this year Apple told xAI it would remove Grok from the App Store if it continued to permit nude deepfakes, and xAI put safeguards in place before Apple approved an updated version.
A new Guideline 2.5.19 clarifies the long-standing ban on hidden, dormant or undocumented features, previously covered under 2.3.1. Apple's own changelog links the rule to apps that misrepresent their purpose during review and only reveal harmful capabilities such as 'nudification' after approval, a tactic commonly known as bait-and-switch. Developers who add functionality not present in the reviewed version risk removal from the App Store and the Apple Developer Program.
The update also extends Section 5's prohibition on apps that facilitate human trafficking or the exploitation of children to alternative app distribution channels, closing a gap as sideloading and alternative marketplaces expand.
Other changes in the October 16 revision include a new Guideline 2.3.14 covering creative assets, StoreKit external purchase link clarifications in 3.1.1(a), and added documentation links. 'We do not hesitate to remove apps, and terminate the developers behind them, when they violate these guidelines,' Apple's developer news post said. Translations of the updated guidelines will be available within one month.
The move lands as regulators and platforms face pressure over generative-AI misuse, and it raises the compliance bar for any app whose features touch image generation or editing.