Due to regulatory compliance with Europe’s Digital Markets Act, Apple is now legally obligated to permit a pornography app for iPhone users in EU regions. Since the inception of the App Store in 2008, Apple has maintained a policy against listing apps explicitly for distributing pornography.
As of today, EU iPhone users can download Hot Tub, an app specifically designed for browsing pornography, as effortlessly as they would download Epic’s Fortnite or Delta, a well-known Nintendo game emulator.
This availability is made possible through AltStore PAL.
Previously, AltStore PAL has primarily been regarded as a harmless platform for developers to distribute software on iPhones without the constraints of complying with Apple’s revenue-sharing policies.
However, the introduction of Hot Tub, which does not include age verification for access, highlights a tangible concern that Apple had regarding a less regulated app marketplace.
In a Fast Company article published on this same date last year, Apple’s Phil Schiller voiced concerns about the potential for pornography apps to be distributed alongside gaming apps favored by younger audiences.
Schiller emphasized that despite new security measures, there are inherent limits to the protection Apple can offer users who opt for alternative app marketplaces on their iPhones. The company has minimal control over the content from these sources—even if that content is deemed inappropriate or harmful.
“In the end, there are items we have restricted in our App Store—things we believe aren’t safe or suitable,” Schiller noted. “It won’t be our choice whether those alternate marketplaces enforce similar rules and restrictions.”
Thus, for the first time, iPhones can run apps explicitly focused on pornography. This development should concern parents, as the DMA does not grant Apple the legal authority to prohibit specific app stores from functioning on its platform, nor can Apple prevent children from downloading such app stores onto their devices.
Exactly one year after that article’s publication, a pornography app is now available through the same channel that features Nintendo emulators and Fortnite.
Until last August, access to AltStore PAL required an annual subscription, but that changed when Epic Games provided a grant to AltStore PAL to alleviate the costs of maintaining an alternative app marketplace.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has not publicly commented on the presence of the pornography app listed alongside Fortnite with his company’s support. He may consider the app’s availability as a natural progression, given it was always anticipated to occur eventually.
Ultimately, parents need to recognize that the ‘Apple-approved’ messaging surrounding the pornography app on iPhone overlooks the fact that Apple is legally mandated to approve the app due to DMA regulations, which the company has actively opposed.
One could argue that Apple’s business practices contributed to the circumstances that necessitated the legal approval of a pornography app for iPhone users in the EU without stringent parental controls. However, referring to the pornography app as simply Apple-approved is both intentionally clever and misleading.
And what options are there for controlling pornographic access via Safari? Apple’s Screen Time features and third-party content blockers provide mechanisms for parents to limit access to explicit content online.
: . More.
