Apple told developers Monday that any app offering dating or romantic relationship features must carry an 18+ age rating, a category that reaches well beyond matchmaking services.
Companion products count. Character.AI, Replika and similar apps, where users build friends, partners or fantasy characters, will need the minimum rating applied where sexual or romantic content is present.
How the mechanics work
From November 16, developers must declare new content descriptors through App Store Connect. All apps need the declarations completed by January 12, 2027.
A second requirement covers location sharing. Apps that reveal a user’s real-world position to another person or group must disclose it as a feature.
Brazil gets a carve-out. Family location tools there can request a rating from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security instead of listing it locally.
Why companion apps are the harder target
The rating follows the policy. Enforcement sits with Apple, and the category is broad: an app whose main product is a spreadsheet but which ships a romantic persona tab now inherits the minimum age.
Companion software has scaled quickly with little of the age assurance infrastructure that dating services built under pressure from regulators. Around 220 million downloads had accumulated across the top companion apps roughly a year ago.
Apple already rates by declared features rather than observed use, and a rating is not a lock. It describes what the app contains, and an app store can only gate what it knows.
