Apple Says it’s “Deeply Concerned” After First iPhone Porn App Launches in the EU

man holding iPhone
Image credit: Apple.com

The EU’s Digital Markets Act, which forced Apple to allow alternative app stores for iOS users last year, has led to the release of the first porn app on such app distribution platforms. And Apple, which has always forbidden porn apps on its own App Store, isn’t happy about it.

Hot Tub, a self-described “adult content browser” is now available via AltStore PAL, one of the first alternative app stores that’s now available for iPhone users in the EU alongside the Epic Games Store. In an announcement post on X, the AltStore team joked about the iPhone “turning 18” this year, adding that Hot Tub was “the world’s 1st Apple-approved porn app.”

Apple took issue with that statement as the company didn’t exactly “approve” Hot Tub: It was legally forced to allow the alternative app store now hosting it in the EU. In a statement shared with 9to5Mac, the company also said that it was “deeply concerned” about how apps like Hot Tub could threaten “user safety.”

“We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids,” Apple said in the statement. “This app and others like it will undermine consumer trust and confidence in our ecosystem that we have worked for more than a decade to make the best in the world. Contrary to the false statements made by the marketplace developer, we certainly do not approve of this app and would never offer it in our App Store. The truth is that we are required by the European Commission to allow it to be distributed by marketplace operators like AltStore and Epic who may not share our concerns for user safety.”

Apple’s statement is certainly a bit overdramatic as the number of iPhone users who are willing to go through the hassle of installing AltStore PAL to download Hot Tub is certainly very limited. Moreover, porn websites are freely available via any web browser on iPhones. Apple’s App Store is also distributing various apps hosting porn content: An app like Twitter/X doesn’t censor porn, and neither does Reddit.

This is pretty much what Tim Sweeney, one of the biggest public critics of Apple’s App Store monopoly said on X earlier today. “Apple is being extremely disingenuous in attacking the European Union here. The iOS App Store hosts the Reddit app, which provides access to massive amounts of porn. Apple knows this, permits it, and gave Reddit a 17+ (!!!) rating and Editors Choice award,” Sweeney posted.

Overall, this whole Hot Tub drama is probably going to benefit AltStore PAL, which isn’t as well known as the Epic Games Store for iOS. The latter, as Sweeney also emphasized yesterday, doesn’t host any porn apps “unlike Apple’s App Store.”

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