Apple is adding two declarations to the App Store's age-rating questionnaire, Shared Location and Dating and Relationships. Any app that declares the second will be rated 18+ at minimum.
“Features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people and/or a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content.”
Apple, defining Dating and Relationships, in its Developer News post · developer.apple.com ↗
The category is broad: it covers apps linking real people and also a virtual companion that draws users into sexual or romantic content, so AI romantic-companion apps are caught.
App Store icon in Apple's Liquid Glass design, MacRumors' feature image for the story
Image: MacRumors
The questions appear in App Store Connect on 16 November 2026, are required with each update, and must be completed by every app by 12 January 2027.
About Apple
Apple has been reworking how the App Store describes who an app is for. On 24 July 2025 it overhauled the age ratings, adding 13+, 16+ and 18+ tiers to the existing 4+ and 9+ and dropping 12+ and 17+, and developers were told to answer an updated questionnaire by 31 January 2026 or be unable to submit app updates.
In October 2025 it pulled the dating-safety apps Tea Dating Advice and TeaOnHer, citing failures on content moderation and user privacy and many user complaints. In February 2026 it began blocking downloads of 18+ rated apps in Australia, Brazil and Singapore until users confirm they are adults.
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In Brazil, local rules set 16+ for shared location and 18+ for dating; apps that think a lower rating fits, such as parent-child location sharing, can ask the Ministry of Justice for one.
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