Apple has told developers that apps built around dating, or around virtual companions that engage users in sexual or romantic content, will receive a minimum App Store age rating of 18+. The change was announced in a developer news post dated November 2, 2026, and reported by TechCrunch on November 3. It affects dating services, AI companion apps and any app that lets people share their real-world location with others.
What Apple announced
According to Apple’s developer post, two new content descriptors are being added to the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect:
- Dating and Relationships: covers features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people, and/or a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content.
- Shared Location: covers sharing a user’s real-world location with another person or group.
Any app that declares Dating and Relationships gets a minimum age rating of 18+. Apple says Shared Location may not change the minimum rating in some regions.
Key dates for developers
- November 16, 2026: the new descriptors appear in the age rating questionnaire.
- January 12, 2027: every app must have the new declarations completed.
Apple says developers must complete the declarations when they submit an app update or change their age rating answers. In practice, an app that ships no update before the January deadline is still covered by the deadline itself, so developers have roughly two months from the day the questions appear.
Why the companion-app rule stands out
Dating apps were already mostly adult-only, so the practical weight of the change falls on AI companion products. TechCrunch names Character.AI and Replika as examples of the kind of app where users create friends, partners or fantasy characters. The wording matters: Apple’s descriptor is aimed at companions that engage a user in sexual or romantic content, including apps where that is only one of many features. A general chatbot that never goes there would not obviously be covered, though Apple’s post does not publish a test for borderline cases.
TechCrunch also recalls that xAI launched animated AI companions with unlockable adult features last year, and cites its own August 2025 reporting that top AI companion apps across the App Store and Google Play had been downloaded 220 million times worldwide by that summer. Those figures come from TechCrunch’s earlier reporting, not from Apple’s announcement.
The Brazil exception
Apple’s post spends a section on Brazil, where local rules require an A16 rating for Shared Location and an A18 rating for Dating and Relationships. Developers whose app qualifies for a lower rating, for example location sharing designed for parents and children, can request an official rating from Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Once the ministry verifies it, that rating is shown on the App Store in Brazil.
The wider child-safety context
TechCrunch notes the move sits alongside Apple’s wider child-safety work, including age assurance tools it rolled out globally in February 2026 and further parental controls previewed in June. Apple’s announcement itself does not describe how existing apps will be re-reviewed or what happens to an app that declares nothing, so it is too early to say how many current apps will change rating.
What is still unclear
- Apple’s post does not list which apps it considers affected, and TechCrunch’s examples are illustrations rather than an Apple list.
- How borderline companion apps will be judged has not been published.
- The announcement does not say how Apple will check that developers answer the new questions honestly.
Developers with dating, matchmaking, companion or family-location features should review the questionnaire when it opens on November 16 and read Apple’s post directly.
