It’s one of the few intangible rules of the App Store: no porn. Apps offering explicit sexual content have never been allowed to appear in the official iPhone store, even if some smart alecks have been able to slip through the net over the years (their apps are spotted pretty quickly by the patrol). Steve Jobs had affirmed at the time that Apple had a “moral responsibility” to ban porn. The boss had added that people who wanted porn could buy an Android!
Available only in Europe
Apple can occasionally relax its main principles: last spring, emulators were thus able to appear in the App Store after years of prohibition. It still took pressure from the European Union for the manufacturer to agree to distribute this type of app, which is not illegal at all.
It is also thanks to the EU and the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA) that Apple was forced to accept alternative stores on European iPhones and iPads. AltStore PAL, the first of its kind, distributes the Delta emulator and other apps that Apple doesn't want to hear about — like Torrent apps, for example. This same store offers Hot Tub, a porn app, as of today!
And Apple was unable to oppose it, despite the notarization process that allows the manufacturer to validate the applications distributed by alternative stores. This is normally a purely technical operation to ensure that the app does not pose a security problem. In fact, the Apple company has been able to use notarization to ban applications, as was the case (to no avail) for the Epic Games Store.
Technically, Hot Tube is therefore indeed the first app prohibited for under-18s approved by Apple!
Update — Apple denies having "approved" Hot Tub, "contrary to the false statements" by AltStore PAL. In a statement, the manufacturer said it was "deeply concerned about the security risks that hardcore pornography apps of this type create for EU users, particularly children." Apple does not mention the existence of a parental control system in iOS, nor the fact that all apps distributed by alternative stores must be reviewed by it as part of the so-called notarization process.
Apple normally has no say in the nature of the application, only in its technical aspect, but that has not stopped the company from blocking or delaying the review when it did not like the apps.
For the apple company, Hot Tub and other similar apps will "undermine consumer confidence in our ecosystem, which we have worked for more than a decade to make the best in the world." Apple will “definitely not” approve this app in its own store.
The “truth,” Apple assures, is that the company is acting under “constraints from the European Commission.” As a final dig, it adds that AltStore and Epic “may not share our concerns about user security.”
AltStore disagrees with Apple’s denial, proved: the manufacturer has indeed “approved” the application.
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