Apple is making dating apps and AI companion apps 18+ on the App Store. From 16 November, developers must declare whether their app offers dating or relationship features, including virtual companions that engage users in sexual or romantic content, and any app that does will carry a minimum age rating of 18+. Every app must complete the new declarations by 12 January 2027.
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Apps that include "Dating and Relationships" features "receive a minimum age rating of 18+," Apple told developers.
What Apple changed
Apple announced the change in a developer news post on 3 November. When developers fill in the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect, they will now have to answer two new questions:
| New declaration | What it covers | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Dating and Relationships | Features for dating or relationship connections between real people, or a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content | Minimum age rating of 18+ |
| Shared Location | Sharing a user's real-world location with another person or group | May not change the minimum rating in some regions |
Key dates
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 16 November 2026 | New declarations appear in App Store Connect |
| Any app update after that | Developers must complete the declarations when they submit |
| 12 January 2027 | Deadline for every app to have the declarations completed |
Which apps are affected
Dating apps are the obvious group. The bigger change is for AI companion apps, which let users create virtual friends, partners and characters to chat with. Apps such as Character.AI and Replika are in this category, and the rule can also reach apps where companion chat is one feature among many. If the virtual companion engages users in sexual or romantic content, the app becomes 18+.
Brazil gets its own treatment: local law there requires an A16 rating for location sharing and A18 for dating and relationship features, and developers can ask Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security for an official lower rating, for example for parent and child location apps.
Why Apple is doing this
Concern has grown about teenagers forming romantic or sexual relationships with chatbots. New York's governor signed an AI chatbot child safety law in October. Apple's move builds the rule into the App Store itself, where it applies wherever the store operates.
What it means for Nigerian parents
The App Store's age ratings feed into Screen Time and family controls on iPhone. If you manage your child's iPhone with an age-appropriate content limit, apps rated 18+ can be blocked from download. Once developers complete the new declarations, AI companion apps with romantic content should fall under that block.
Two caveats. The rule depends on developers declaring their features honestly, and it covers the App Store only, not Android phones or chatbots used in a web browser. Talking to teenagers about what these apps are, and checking which ones are installed, still matters.
What it means for Nigerian developers
If you publish an app on the App Store, from 16 November you must answer the new questions whenever you submit an update, and you must complete them for every app by 12 January 2027. If your app has dating features, or an AI character that can engage in romantic or sexual chat, expect an 18+ rating, which shrinks your audience on iPhone. Teams building AI chat products should decide now whether romantic features are worth that trade-off, or design them out.
Apple is putting AI companions with romantic content behind an 18+ rating. Parents get a stronger filter; developers get a deadline of 12 January 2027.
