Hot Tub arrives on AltStore
The first native porn app for iPhone called “Hot Tub” may have passed notarization checks, but Apple wants everyone to know it certainly doesn’t “approve” of such dangerous things on its devices.
Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines have almost always explicitly stated that apps featuring “overtly sexual or pornographic material” are not allowed, period. However, alternate app stores in the EU can publish anything that passes a notarization check, and that’s happened with the first-ever native porn app for iPhone.
When AltStore promoted the app, named Hot Tub, it used the phrase “the first Apple-approved porn app” in marketing. Apple was quick to deny that it “approved” of the app, and released a statement to MacRumors.
The statement highlighted the company’s concern for easy access to explicit content and the risk to customers.
“We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids. This app and others like it will undermine consumer trust and confidence in our ecosystem that we have worked for more than a decade to make the best in the world. 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 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.”
Apple draws a clear line in the sand that it would never allow such an app on the App Store. While it is true you’ll never find an app for PornHub in the App Store, there are plenty of popular apps filled with explicit, pornographic, or otherwise adult material all over the App Store.
The statement is even more bewildering given that Safari enables easy access to porn from the jump unless specific steps are taken to block the content. If the device is owned by a minor, certain filters are automatically in place, but even those aren’t enough.
As the Broadway song suggests — The Internet Is For Porn. OK, it may not be for porn, but the adult industry has been a driver behind new technologies for decades.
Everything from VHS to Apple Vision Pro has had some effect on the porn industry and vice versa. There’s no escaping it, and it’s even more confusing coming from an otherwise progressive company that likely wouldn’t take issue with the porn industry or sex work outside of the App Store.
Moving beyond Safari, the App Store itself is brimming with adult content. It’s not hard to find explicit material on many popular apps, even ones that ban the content like YouTube or Facebook.
Art sharing communities have adult sections, Mastodon has a thriving community around various explicit content, and even Bluesky is no stranger to nudity and pornography. Let’s not even get into X, formerly Twitter, and its flood of bots serving explicit images in DMs and replies.
Search ‘hookup’ for a quick list of scammy-looking dating apps
So, Apple’s stance that it somehow keeps people away from explicit material comes off just plain wrong. It seems the hill it wants to die on is that you can’t go to the App Store and search “porn app” and get any results.
Let’s not even get into the number of apps claiming to be for dating when their clear purpose is hookups, sexting, and other adult-oriented activities. The more significant danger beyond possibly seeing someone naked is those app’s tendencies to prey on lonely people and lure them into scams.
But no, we should all be thanking Apple for protecting us from the scourge that is pornography. Because that’s the real problem, and not the borderline casinos draining customers of livelihoods or causing addictive behavior in children.
