Apple requires 18+ ratings for apps with romantic AI companions

An AI app does not have to be a dating service to fall under Apple’s new adult-rating rule. Apps offering dating or romantic-relationship features must carry an 18+ rating. Developers must begin supplying new content disclosures on November 16, 2026, bringing romantic AI companions within the scope of the App Store change.

Apple shared the policy change in a developer announcement on Monday, according to TechCrunch. It targets dating apps and AI companions that engage in sexual or romantic content. Developers must identify relevant features so the app’s age rating reflects what their software offers.

Romance can be one feature among many

Most major dating services already limit their platforms to adults. The less straightforward application is to AI products where a romantic companion sits alongside other kinds of conversation. TechCrunch identifies Character.AI and Replika as examples of services that let people create companions, including friends, lovers, boyfriends, girlfriends and fantasy characters.

The category already has substantial reach. TechCrunch reports that leading AI companion apps across Apple’s App Store and Google Play had been downloaded 220 million times globally as of the previous summer. That is a download count across both stores, not a measure of individual users.

Location sharing gets a disclosure requirement too

The same policy update reaches beyond relationships. Alongside dating and relationship features, developers must indicate whether an app shares a user’s real-world location with another person or group. The disclosure concerns location-sharing functionality, a separate feature developers must account for when describing their apps.

Apple also outlined a Brazil-specific route for family location-sharing apps. Those developers can request an official rating from Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security instead of assigning the A16 rating required under local law. That provision addresses family location sharing; the 18+ requirement concerns dating and romantic-relationship features.