Apple's New App Store Rules Are the Right Direction. Enforcement Is the Test

This is a good move on paper, and paper is all it is until Apple enforces it.

Apple updated its App Review Guidelines. Section 1.2, on apps where users create or share content, now names nonconsensual intimate imagery among the particular challenges those apps face. A new Section 2.5.19 says apps must not include hidden, dormant or undocumented features, and it names code obfuscation as grounds for removal from the App Store and termination of the developer account. 9to5Mac reports that hidden functionality was already prohibited under an older section, so the new text spells out something Apple could already act on.

I am glad Apple is acting on this. It is a serious problem, and plenty of apps and games keep pushing the limits of the rules, or playing with them. But a rule only matters if it is applied to everyone who publishes.

So here is what I would want to see. First, evidence that Apple is working to implement the change and sanctioning developers who ignore it. Second, an automated system to check for this, because in my view nobody reviews every app by hand at 100%. That is my opinion, not a number from Apple.

Until then, treat the rule as a promise. Read the guidelines yourself, linked below, and judge the next removals by what they show.