Apple lashes out at iPhone porn app maker and the EU rules allowing its download

LONDON (AP) — Apple has chided a newly introduced pornography app available in the European Union, warning that the bloc’s digital rules opening the way for third-party app store downloads undermines consumer confidence in the tech giant.

AltStore PAL, an alternative app marketplace made possible under Europe's Digital Markets Act or DMA, this week unveiled the Hot Tub iPhone app, described as an adult content browser.

The digital rulebook forces Big Tech companies to open their services up to more competition, including allowing phone users to download from alternative app stores instead of being limited to the official app stores from Apple and Google, for example.

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

Apple rejected that description, saying the availability of such an app would “undermine consumer trust and confidence” in its mobile ecosystem.

“Contrary to the false statements made by the marketplace developer, we certainly do not approve of this app and would never offer it in our App Store,” the company said in a statement.

"The truth is that we are required by the European Commission to allow it to be distributed by marketplace operators like AltStore and Epic who may not share our concerns for user safety.”

Under Apple’s rules, apps on rival marketplaces still need to be certified by the company through a “notarization” process. But app makers aren’t allowed to suggest this means Apple gives its endorsement.

AltStore is backed by a grant from Epic Games, which has spent years battling Apple over the way iPhone apps are distributed and the fees for digital transactions that occur within them.

AltStore fired back at Apple, saying the iPhone maker “continues to use safety as a pretext to protect their monopoly power and evade compliance with the DMA.”

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney also took to social media to blast Apple, saying that on other platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux, “developers can make and release apps without the platform maker adding junk fees and rendering moral judgments on their decisions.”

Under DMA, Apple had to make changes to its business practices starting last year. In one of the biggest changes, Apple was forced to relax restrictions on its App Store, by allowing people in the 27-nation bloc to download iPhone apps from stores that it did not operate.

Apple has criticized the new regulations, saying they expose Europeans to the specter of more unsavory services that peddle pornography, illegal drugs and other content that it has long prohibited in its App Store.

The company lashed out again in its latest statement, saying it's “deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids.”

The European Commission, the bloc's executive branch, did not respond to a request for comment.