It’s almost unheard of for Apple to comment on an individual iPhone app, but it’s just done so in response to the first porn app, just arriving on European iPhones.

Apple has chided a newly available pornography app available in the European Union. It also warned that the bloc’s digital rules opening the way for third-party app store downloads undermines consumer confidence in the tech giant.

In the EU, Apple's gatekeeper status changed with the 2022 adoption of the Digital Markets Act, which required Apple to allow alternative app stores.

AltStore PAL said in a social media post that Hot Tub is “the world’s 1st Apple-approved porn app.” Apple rejects that claim.

Apple has criticised AltStore PAL’s new adult content app Hot Tub on EU iPhones, arguing that despite passing notarisation, it does not meet Apple’s safety standards. Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney accused Apple of stifling competition through its restrictive app policies.