Apple Will Require 18+ Ratings for Dating Apps and AI Companions With Romantic Content

Apple is about to make a lot of AI girlfriend and boyfriend apps say what they are. Starting November 16, developers must declare in App Store Connect whether their app includes a "Dating and Relationships" feature, and any app that does gets a minimum age rating of 18+. The headline version of this story sounds like a ban. It is not one, and the difference matters.

Apple posted the notice to developers on Monday, November 2. It adds two new content descriptors to the age rating questionnaire. One is Shared Location, meaning sharing of real-world location with another person or group. The other is Dating and Relationships, which Apple defines as features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people "and/or a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content."

"Apps that include Dating and Relationships receive a minimum age rating of 18+." Apple, in its developer news post

That second clause is the interesting one. Dating apps already tend to be adult-only, as TechCrunch notes. The Verge makes the same point, adding that Apple's 18+ tier has mostly covered gambling, violence, drug references and sexual content. Companion chatbots that flirt, role-play or simulate a relationship are a newer fit, and Apple has now written them into its own definition.

A declaration, not a gate

Here is what the notice actually says, and what it leaves out. Developers have to make the declarations whenever they submit an app update or change their age rating questionnaire. Every app must have them completed by January 12, 2027. That is the mechanism Apple has described. It is a self-reported form that drives a rating, not an age check on the person tapping download.

It also does not name a single app. TechCrunch's Sarah Perez says it is "perhaps more interesting" how the rule could affect AI companion apps, or apps where companionship is just one feature among many. She points to Character.AI and Replika, which let people build friends, lovers, boyfriends, girlfriends and other fantasy characters, and notes that xAI launched 3D animated companions last year that let users unlock NSFW capabilities. That is TechCrunch raising the question. Apple has not said any of those products fall under the new rule.

The gray area is real. A general chatbot that can be nudged into romance is not obviously a "virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content," and Apple's notice does not say where the line sits. Nor has it said how it will enforce the declarations if a developer answers no and the app behaves otherwise. Until Apple publishes guidance, that is guesswork.

The scale of the category explains the attention. TechCrunch reports that top AI companion apps across the App Store and Google Play had been downloaded 220 million times globally as of last summer. The figure is dated, but it shows this is no niche tweak. The Verge says the broader aim is to keep minors away from sexual or romantic chatbots and virtual girlfriend or boyfriend simulators that it says could pose mental health risks.

Apple's own framing is child safety. TechCrunch says the change follows other steps the company has taken to protect minors, including a global rollout of its age assurance technology and more parental controls. It also lands as Apple's review process is under scrutiny elsewhere. WIRED recently reported that pet portrait and workout apps hid deepfake tools, and Apple says they passed its review.

The location half of the update is more regional. Apple says Shared Location may not affect minimum ratings in some regions, but in Brazil local rules require an A16 rating for it and A18 for Dating and Relationships. Developers who think they qualify for lower, such as parent and child location sharing, can request an official rating from Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security, which would then show on the Brazilian App Store.

The practical read for now: companion app makers have roughly two months to decide how honestly to fill in a form. Whether Apple checks their answers is the part nobody outside Cupertino can say yet.