The very first porn app is now available to all iPhones in the EU, and Apple is not happy about it at all.
AltStore PAL, which is an alternative to Apple’s App Store, is now free to access because of newly introduced European competition laws.
This means users can download adult content browser Hot Tub, which they have dubbed ‘the world’s first Apple-approved porn app’ – despite the App Store not allowing porn.
Apple is not happy about it and said:
‘We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids.
‘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 was forced to make it available because of new European regulations. The new EU Digital Markets Act required that Apple give users the option of using alternative app stores that don’t have the same rules as its own.
Apps distributed through those stores must be checked by Apple to ensure they are not scams, weaken the iPhone’s security and function as they should.
But otherwise it cannot limit the kind of content that would be available through those stores.
That allowed the new pornography app – Hot Tub – to apply to be available on AltStore PAL, the alternative marketplace.
As a war of words began between the two companies, AltStore hit back at Apple in a further statement of its own, saying it was ‘not true’ that it had made ‘false statements about the approval of Hot Tub’.
‘All apps distributed with AltStore PAL must be submitted to Apple for “notarisation”,’ it said in a post on its social media channels.
‘Unlike macOS, iOS notarisation involves a human-review process where Apple employees manually review apps before they are “approved” or “rejected” for distribution (in Apple’s own words).
‘Unfortunately, Apple has rejected several apps from our store in the past for dubious reasons, so the phrase “Apple-approved” in our marketing is a reference to the fact that Hot Tub was approved, not rejected, by Apple for notarisation.
‘To be perfectly clear, Apple has not endorsed Hot Tub in any way. However, they did approve it.’
AltStore said it had received backing from Epic Games, the creator of the “Fortnite” video game that pursued an antitrust complaint against Apple.
AltStore said it used that funding to pay fees that Apple charges to alternative app stores that are under investigation by the EU, according to media reports.
In a post on X, Epic Games Chief Executive Tim Sweeney said his firm has supported laws such as the DMA because “when Apple are allowed to be the gatekeeper of competing apps and stores, they grossly misuse that power to disadvantage competition.”
He added that Epic’s own app store in the EU, which rolled out last year, is not carrying the Hot Tub app and has never hosted porn apps.
