San Francisco’s attorney general has demanded that Apple and Google pull a group of so-called “nudify” apps from their mobile stores, saying the tools enable the nonconsensual creation of explicit images and are contributing to widespread harm. The cease-and-desist letters, reviewed by Wired and reported to Ars Technica, target 13 apps that authorities say make it trivial to sexualize photos of real people, including women and children.
What the city alleges and why it’s alarming
Attorney General David Chiu’s office argued that these apps facilitate the creation of deepfake pornography and violate California statutes that prohibit services that enable nonconsensual intimate imagery. The software at issue can remove clothing, change facial features, place subjects in sexualized poses, or swap victims’ faces onto nude bodies.
Chiu told reporters his office was “absolutely horrified” by how ubiquitous the technology has become and warned of serious consequences for victims. According to the letters, images produced by these tools have been used to bully, humiliate, and threaten people; Chiu noted the toll on victims’ reputations and mental health and pointed to cases where targets became suicidal.
Scope of the enforcement request
The city asked Google to remove five of the flagged apps and Apple to remove eight. Wired, which first reviewed the cease-and-desist letters, did not publish the names of the apps to avoid directing people to them; the report did note that at least one had amassed more than a million downloads and advertised features to sexualize images and produce “free and uncensored” videos.
Chiu’s office also suggested the major app stores have profited from hosting these apps, estimating that Apple and Google likely collected “millions of dollars in fees” rather than stepping in to block the harmful services. In his letters, Chiu urged both companies to remove the specific apps and to shore up their screening systems to prevent similar apps from appearing in the future. He warned that if the companies do not act, the office will “consider all of our legal options.”
App store responses and enforcement gaps
Google said it had suspended the five apps identified by Chiu for violating Play Store policies against sexual content. A Google spokesperson told Ars Technica that Google Play prohibits apps containing sexual content, and that the company takes proactive steps to detect and remove harmful apps. The spokesperson also said Google had suspended hundreds of violating apps and restricted related search terms such as “nudify” on its store.
Apple did not provide a response to Ars Technica’s request for comment. The absence of a public reply comes amid criticism that some iPhone apps flagged by researchers have been removed while others remain available, and questions about whether Apple enforces its rules consistently across generative and image-manipulation tools.
Technical evasions and researcher findings
Researchers have warned that many apps are becoming better at avoiding store removals by masking nudification capabilities. A preprint paper cited by Wired identified 420 apps marketed as general face-swapping tools and tested 155 of them; researchers found that about 70 percent could be used to sexualize images. Some apps advertise only face-swapping features publicly while hiding nudification functions within the app, complicating detection and enforcement.
That evasive behavior highlights the limits of manual review processes and keyword-based takedowns. It also raises pressure on platform operators to develop more sophisticated screening and automated detection measures to identify apps that enable nonconsensual intimate image (NCII) creation.
The wider generative-AI context
The dispute over nudify apps comes as app stores confront other generative-AI challenges. The week of the Ars report saw xAI acknowledge that its Grok model had produced instances of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and nonconsensual intimate imagery; xAI sued the user it said produced the prompts. The incident has prompted additional scrutiny over whether conversational or image-generative AI hosted in app stores violates platforms’ content policies.
Apple reportedly told U.S. senators earlier this year that it had privately threatened to remove xAI’s Grok, according to other reporting, yet the Grok app remained available. While Chiu’s letters did not request removal of Grok, he explicitly tied his demand to a broader call for app stores to strengthen screening and enforcement against tools that can produce illegal or harmful sexualized content.
What comes next
Chiu’s office framed the cease-and-desist letters as an opening bid to force tougher platform action. If Apple and Google comply by removing the specific apps and improving screening, regulators may treat the matter as a partial victory. If they do not, San Francisco’s attorney general signaled readiness to pursue additional legal remedies.
The episode underscores growing tensions between rapid advances in generative-image technologies and regulators’ efforts to limit misuse. It also illustrates the limits of current app store oversight when developers deliberately obscure harmful capabilities. For victims and advocates, the outcome will be a test of whether major platforms will accept responsibility for policing third-party tools that enable deeply invasive, nonconsensual content.