Social RoboticsApple restricts romantic AI companion apps to adults
App Store rules now require an 18+ rating for apps offering romantic or sexual relationship features, including AI companions.
Apple updated its App Store policies so that dating apps and AI companion apps offering romantic or sexual content, such as Character.AI and Replika, must carry an 18+ age rating, even when companion features are only part of a wider app. Developers must also add new content descriptors from 16 November, and apps that share a user's location with others must disclose it. The change follows Apple's broader rollout of age assurance and parental controls. With AI companion apps already downloaded hundreds of millions of times, platform rules like this now sit alongside state laws in shaping how companion AI reaches young people.
Source: TechCrunch
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