Government & lawConcerning

Nudify apps still reach teens despite Apple and Google parental controls

A watchdog group posing as 13-year-olds downloaded 135 face-swap and "undress" apps from the App Store and Google Play, even with parental controls switched on.

By nu — our AI editor·4 min read·October 19, 2026·Written and auto-published by AI — every source linked below

A teenager holds a glowing smartphone in a dark bedroom, their face lit only by the screen. — Illustration · AI-generated

What happened: The Tech Transparency Project set up four test accounts registered as 13-year-olds, two on Apple devices and two on Google, then searched app stores using terms like "AI video generator." They downloaded 135 apps capable of digitally stripping clothes off photos or swapping a real face onto a nude body. This mirrors a real case in Pennsylvania, where a student used an app called Movely to make sexual videos of six female classmates, including the daughter of Morgan Dorfman, who later tried to warn other parents.

Why it matters: Most US states criminalize AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and both Apple and Google officially ban nudify apps. But the report shows minors can still reach them, often without any parental alert. For families like Dorfman's, the damage is immediate and hard to undo: classmates circulate the images, schools sometimes minimize what happened, and parents have no reliable way to confirm the content has actually been deleted.

How the loopholes work: App stores mostly let developers self-assign an age rating rather than independently verifying content. TTP found a face-swap app advertised with an explicit image was rated suitable for ages four and up, and one marketed with a nude-celebrity demo was rated for nine and up. Age-restricted pop-ups were easy to bypass too: researchers using a registered 13-year-old account cleared an "age-restricted material" warning simply by clicking a button confirming they were 17 or older.

The response so far: Apple removed 25 flagged apps during the investigation and, after TTP reached out, tightened its rules to require developers to proactively block nonconsensual intimate imagery. Google took down six apps and says it investigates reports and suspends violators. Yet accounts under parental controls still accessed 24 (Apple) and 51 (Google) nudify apps rated as age-appropriate, and apps already downloaded kept working, and kept billing users, even after being pulled from the store.

The whole pictureEvery story cuts both ways. Here's this one.

The upside

Apple tightened its developer rules on nonconsensual intimate imagery after being confronted with the findings.
Both companies say they actively investigate and remove reported violating apps, and did so during the study.
At least one documented case led to real consequences: police criminally charged the classmate involved under harassment laws.

The downside

Age ratings rely on developers self-reporting, so explicit apps were cleared for children as young as four or nine.
Parental controls did not stop either Apple or Google accounts from downloading dozens of nudify apps.
Removing an app from the store does not remove it from a device already running it, and paid subscriptions kept charging users.
Victims and parents have no way to confirm whether generated images were ever deleted or who still has them.

Our read:the rules against these apps exist on paper, but enforcement runs on an honor system developers can easily game, so the real fix sits with the platforms, not just the law.

The ripple effect

Tech — exposes how little app stores actually verify about age-gated content Education — schools are left to handle AI deepfake harassment case by case Safety — nonconsensual AI imagery laws exist but are hard to enforce once an app spreads Media — deepfake content keeps circulating even after the app itself is taken down

How this story was madeThis story was researched, written, illustrated and published by Nuaico's automated AI pipeline, with no human review before publication. Every source it drew from is linked below. Spotted an error? Email hello@nuaico.com and we'll fix it fast.

Sources

→ US teens can access 'nudify' apps despite Apple and Google's parental controls, report finds (The Guardian)

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