Apple Adds Section 2.5.19 Banning Hidden App Features

Apple's updated App Review Guidelines, posted on October 16 and detailed by 9to5Mac, add a new Section 2.5.19 aimed at a specific trick: shipping a clean build through review, then flipping on capabilities the reviewer never saw.

The exact wording: "Don't include any hidden, dormant, or undocumented features in your app; your app's functionality should be clear to end users and App Review. Attempting to hide undocumented features in your app binary, such as through code obfuscation or other methods, is grounds for removal of your app from the App Store and termination of your developer account."

Section 1.2, which governs user-generated content, was expanded in the same pass. It now says apps that let users "create, generate, upload, share, or otherwise contribute content present particular challenges, including intellectual property infringement, nonconsensual intimate imagery, and anonymous bullying." Developers who fail to implement safeguards "may be considered in violation of the Developer Code of Conduct."

The two edits read together. The Tech Transparency Project flagged AI "nudify" apps on the App Store in January 2026; a July 2026 investigation surfaced gambling apps disguised to target children in Brazil; and Apple privately warned xAI about Grok's capacity to generate nonconsensual imagery. The new rules give App Review something written to point at.

Section 5, on legal matters, was tightened too: apps facilitating human trafficking or child exploitation "will be removed from the App Store and blocked from alternative distribution," extending the ban past Apple's first-party store into the sideloading channels it was forced to open.