Apple will start requiring developers on Nov. 16 to declare whether their apps include dating or location-sharing features, and apps with dating and relationship features will get a minimum App Store age rating of 18+. The change covers dating apps and virtual companions that engage in sexual or romantic content, and is aimed at keeping minors from slipping through the cracks.
The new content descriptors, announced Monday, will be added to the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect. Per The Verge, developers will have to say whether their apps let users share their real-world location with others, or include features that enable dating, relationship or sexual behavior between real people or virtual companions.
Dating and relationships features carry the 18+ minimum. Location sharing will affect an app's minimum age rating in some regions, depending on local regulations, The Verge says.
MacRumors reports that the dating and relationships disclosure applies to apps that allow dating or relationship connections, whether with a real person or with a virtual companion that engages in sexual or romantic content. In Brazil, MacRumors says, apps must carry an A16 rating for shared location and an A18 rating for dating and relationships. Apps that may qualify for a lower rating, such as one offering location sharing for parents and children, can request a rating from Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
Apple already has an 18+ category on the App Store, according to The Verge, but it has largely applied to apps featuring gambling, violence, references to drugs, alcohol or tobacco, and nudity or sexual content. Most dating platforms are already adult-only, The Verge says. The expanded ratings aim to stop minors from slipping through the cracks, including by keeping them away from AI chatbots that support sexual or romantic interactions and virtual girlfriend and boyfriend simulators that could pose mental health risks, per The Verge.
According to 9to5Mac, developers must provide the declarations whenever they submit an app update or change their age rating questionnaire.
The questionnaire update goes live Nov. 16. Every app has until Jan. 12, 2027, to answer it.