Gardner also asked why Apple never removed Grok, which still hosted sexualized deepfakes of celebrities as recently as June, from its App Store.

“When someone points out that these apps are deepfaking teenagers or creating child sexual abuse materials, they sort of quietly remove them from the App Store without making any announcement about it, so their inconsistency in terms of the App Store is really pronounced,” Gardner says.

Apple says nudification apps are against its guidelines, and it has proactively rejected many and removed others, including those which people have flagged through the App Store’s reporting tools. The company did not address why Grok is still available on the platform.

As for whether Apple is still looking into deploying CSAM detection tech, Apple pointed to its Communication Safety feature, which blocks images and videos containing nudity, violent content, or gore in various apps. (It’s turned on automatically for users under 18.) The company will also make a new function available for reporting these types of content. Users in Australia, Brazil, the US, and the UK will get it first, with expanded availability coming to other regions over time.

“We have a long-standing commitment to building a safe and trusted platform for kids, and provide many industry-leading tools that help keep them safe while also safeguarding their privacy,” Apple says.

Anunay Kulshrestha, an applied cryptographer and information security consultant at Infosec Clinic, says Apple's CSAM implementation had no accountability guarantees. He doesn't think Apple implementing it today would be any better than if the company had charged ahead three years ago. “A government can pressure Apple into adding something to the set that isn't CSAM, and Apple is known to defer to governments,” Kulshrestha says.

What Apple Is Changing

So what can you expect later this year in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27? Let's break down some of the new improvements and capabilities.