Teen test accounts downloaded ‘nudify’ apps despite parental controls, investigation finds

Parental controls were on, yet accounts listed as belonging to 13-year-olds could still download apps with AI nudification features. A Tech Transparency Project investigation released October 19 found gaps in Apple’s and Google’s safeguards and prompted enforcement responses. Researchers tested four teen accounts and downloaded 135 apps they said could digitally undress people or place faces on nude bodies.

The digital advocacy group created two Apple accounts and two Google accounts for its tests, according to the Guardian. Two had parental controls configured to allow only apps marked suitable for 13-year-olds, with parental approval also required. Researchers searched for image-editing and face-swapping tools using terms including “AI video generator” and “adult AI”.

To test the undressing features, the researchers used AI-generated images of women rather than photographs of real women. The findings describe what those test accounts could access and what the tested apps could do—not a count of teenagers using the tools.

Age ratings let the apps through

Both companies prohibit nudification apps, but TTP found that their age protections largely depended on developers correctly identifying suitable audiences. Apps with nudification features were rated for minors, allowing them through age-based restrictions. The two accounts with parental controls enabled could each download dozens of the apps.

The parental approval requirement also failed in these tests. Researchers said neither company required or suggested parental signoff to acquire the nudification apps, despite the controls they had configured. That left a second intended check unused even when an app’s age rating permitted the download.

One face-swapping app, rated for ages four and up, offered paid pornographic templates. Researchers bought a subscription through a 13-year-old’s account, and no alert reached the linked parental account. Another app, rated for ages nine and up, opened to a topless image and advertised a tool that promised to digitally undress anyone.

Even an adult rating did not always stop access. An Apple account registered as 13 downloaded an adult-rated app after confirming a prompt saying the user was at least 17. Google’s account without parental controls blocked three age-restricted downloads, but allowed other apps whose developers rated them as age-appropriate.

Enforcement—and a dispute over the findings

After TTP sought Apple’s comment, the company strengthened its moderation guidelines to require developers to prevent and remove nonconsensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated images. Apple said it reviews every app before publication and removes apps and developers that misrepresent their features.

• Apple disputed part of TTP’s classification. Spokesperson Adam Dema said some listed apps were mainstream editing tools without nudification or deepfake capabilities. Apple said it had taken action on the remaining apps identified, beyond those it had already removed.
• Google said its response included suspending apps that violated its rules and restricting related store search terms. Spokesperson Dan Jackson said the company regularly takes proactive steps to detect and remove harmful content.

Store removal did not disable installed copies

Apple also described developers adding prohibited capabilities after review as a bait-and-switch tactic, saying it removes developers who do so. But enforcement at the store level had a limit in TTP’s tests: during the investigation, Apple removed 25 apps and Google removed six, yet researchers could continue using copies they had already downloaded. Delisting stopped those listings from offering downloads; it did not make the installed tools unusable.