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The first-ever pornography app is now available on iPhones in a controversial move that has riled Apple.
Hot Tub describes itself as an “adult content browser” that allows users to watch sexual material from a slew of aggregated websites.
The X-rated app is not available through Apple’s official App Store, but Europeans can now install it through an alternative named AltStore PAL.
Apple has long prohibited “overtly sexual or pornographic material” on its own iOS, with former CEO Steve Jobs once stating the company had a “moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone”.
However, under the Digital Markets Act – which came into force on 1 November 2022 and set out to make the “markets in the digital sector fairer and more contestable” – the tech giant was forced to end its strict control over what customers could download on their devices.
Apple has therefore slammed Hot Tub’s developer for marketing the app as “Apple-approved” and confirmed it would “never” offer such content on the official App Store.
“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,” a spokesperson for the company told ReadWrite.
“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.”
Our response to Apple's statement on Hot Tub pic.twitter.com/AvMOdDVaVp
— AltStore.io (@altstoreio) February 4, 2025
AltStore hit back at Apple’s accusation, arguing it had not made any false statements about the approval of Hot Tub.
“All apps distributed with AltStore PAL must be submitted to Apple for ‘notarization’. Unlike macOS, iOS notarization involves a human-review process where Apple employees manually review apps before they are ‘approved’ or ‘rejected’ for distribution,” it said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter)
“Unfortunately, Apple has rejected several apps from our store in the past for dubious reasons. So, the phrase ‘Apple-approved’ in our marketing is a reference to the fact that Hot Tub was approved, not rejected, by Apply for notarization. To be perfectly clear, Apple has not endorsed Hot Tube in any way. However, they did approve it.”
Responding to Apple’s comments, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said: “This isn’t how platforms should work: on Windows, Mac, and Linux, developers can make and release apps without the platform maker adding junk fees and rendering moral judgments on their decisions. On iOS, Apple forces its processes on developers against their wishes.”
The European Commission didn’t provide a comment when approached
