Updated November 5, 2026 · 4 min read · By the Velvet Hour team

Apple's new 18+ rule for AI companion apps: what changes, and when

On November 2, 2026, Apple told developers it is adding two new questions to the App Store age-rating questionnaire. One of them is aimed squarely at AI companion apps. TechCrunch covered it the next day as Apple restricting dating apps and AI companions to users 18 and up.

Full disclosure: we make Velvet Hour, an AI companion app for adults. We have tried to describe Apple's rule exactly as Apple wrote it, with links to the sources at the end.

What Apple announced

From November 16, 2026, App Store Connect asks every developer whether their app includes two things:

• Dating and Relationships: "features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people and/or a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content."
• Shared Location: "sharing of real-world location with another person or group."

Apps that answer yes to Dating and Relationships get a minimum age rating of 18+. Developers must answer whenever they submit an update or change their age rating, and all apps must have the answers in by January 12, 2027. In Brazil, local rules require an A18 rating for Dating and Relationships.

Which AI companion apps does it cover?

The wording is "a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content". So the deciding question is not whether an app has AI characters, but whether those characters can be romantic. TechCrunch named Character.AI and Replika as examples of apps where people can create romantic or fantasy companions.

An AI companion app that only offers friendship or study help, with romance genuinely switched off, may not need the declaration. Any app with a girlfriend or boyfriend mode almost certainly does.

What it means if you use an AI companion

• Apps with romance become 18+ on the App Store. On an iPhone with age restrictions or Screen Time limits, they will be blocked for younger users.
• The rating describes the app, it does not check your ID. The App Store rating and parental controls are a filter, not an identity check. Apps still need their own age checks.
• Expect updates. Apps have until January 12, 2027, so you may see ratings change in the App Store over the next few weeks.

How Velvet Hour handles age

Velvet Hour has been for adults only since it launched, on the website and on Telegram:

• Date of birth before the first message. Anyone under 18 is turned away. On Telegram, an account that was turned away stays blocked across all our bots.
• If someone says they are under 18 in a chat, the account locks. Chat, calls and check-ins all stop until a person on our team reviews it.
• Romantic, never explicit. Members choose Friendly, Flirty or Romantic. Romantic is affectionate and a little intense, but it never becomes sexually explicit. That is enforced on our servers, not left to the AI.
• Every companion is an AI, and says so. In chat, on calls and on every page.

When our iPhone app goes live, it will carry the 18+ rating with the Dating and Relationships declaration, because romance is part of what Velvet Hour offers.

Questions

When does Apple's new AI companion rule start?

The new Dating and Relationships question appears in App Store Connect from November 16, 2026. All apps must answer it by January 12, 2027.

Are all AI companion apps 18+ now?

Apps whose virtual companions can engage in romantic or sexual content get a minimum 18+ rating once they declare it. Companion apps without any romantic features are not covered by that part of the rule.

Does Apple check my age for these apps?

The rating itself is not an ID check. It works with the parental controls and age settings on the iPhone. Apps are still responsible for their own age checks.

Is Velvet Hour 18+?

Yes. Velvet Hour is for adults only, asks for your date of birth before you can chat, and locks any account where someone says they are under 18.