AI 'Nudify' Apps Downloaded by Accounts Posing as 13-Year-Olds Despite Safeguards, Study Finds

AI 'nudify' apps were downloaded by accounts registered as 13-year-old boys despite age safeguards on Apple's App Store and Google Play, according to a Tech Transparency Project (TTP) investigation published on Monday, 19 October 2026.

Researchers testing the platforms' protections did so as American schools confront allegations that pupils are using AI tools to generate sexualised images of classmates without consent.

In Pennsylvania, mother Morgan Dorfman said she learnt in December 2025 that a pupil had allegedly created sexualised videos involving her daughter and five other girls.

TTP created two Apple accounts and two Google accounts, enabling parental controls on one account for each platform. Researchers searched for image-editing, face-swapping and AI video applications, testing them with AI-generated pictures of fictional adult women rather than photographs of real people.

Accessibility Remains Despite Age Ratings

Across its four test accounts, TTP identified 135 apps it considered nudify-capable. Its definition covered software that could create fully or partially nude depictions as well as images portraying a person in a bikini or lingerie. Not every app could generate explicit nudity, a distinction disputed by Apple.

The parental-control results were particularly notable. TTP said the supervised Apple account could access 24 apps within its definition, compared with 51 through the supervised Google account. Researchers had configured both to require parental approval for downloads and approved apps carrying ratings suitable for a 13-year-old.

Some ratings appeared misaligned with the functions reported by researchers. TTP said one face-swapping application rated suitable for users aged four and over could generate nude images. Its developer said it had submitted a version with an 18-plus rating and introduced checks intended to block nudification requests.

Researchers also used gift cards to buy premium subscriptions through the test accounts. They said neither platform notified the linked parent when the purchases were made after the apps had been downloaded.

Apple said approval should have been requested and it was investigating the unexpected behaviour. Google did not respond to TTP's question about those payments.

Without parental controls, an Apple test account could bypass a warning on an adult-rated download by confirming it was at least 17, despite its registered age of 13. Three Google download attempts were blocked, but TTP attributed those restrictions to decisions made by the app developers, not Google's broader age-rating system.

Apple spokesperson Adam Dema challenged the classification of mainstream editing apps as nudification tools, saying some had legitimate functions and lacked nude-image capabilities. Apple said it prohibited such apps and removed developers who added prohibited capabilities after approval.

On 16 October, Apple strengthened its App Review Guidelines to explicitly address AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery and features hidden during initial review. Google spokesperson Dan Jackson said the company removes harmful apps and had suspended applications and restricted related searches following identified violations.

Families Face Unanswered Questions

Removing an app listing did not necessarily disable a copy already installed. TTP said that, as of 28 September, Apple had removed 25 of the apps identified and Google six, yet all the removed apps continued functioning on its test phones.

Dorfman told The Guardian that Movely, an app she examined while preparing information for other parents, still worked on her phone after disappearing from Apple's store. She said her paid subscription also continued, and that premium features offered more explicit material than the free version.

The Pennsylvania allegations also exposed conflicting accounts of the school incident. A district message dated 16 January said the material shared with law enforcement did not show anything inappropriate or another related offence.

Radnor Township Police announced a harassment charge against a juvenile on 23 January following an investigation into reported sexualised imagery.

The charge does not establish guilt. Local reporting said investigators had not recovered the alleged videos, leaving their precise contents and any distribution unconfirmed. The available reporting does not establish the case's final outcome.

For Dorfman, that uncertainty persists beyond the police investigation. She told The Guardian she could not reassure her daughter that any videos were gone or determine who might still have copies.