April 16, 2026 Tech Transparency Project says Apple and Google app store search and advertising systems are helping users discover apps that generate deepfake nude images. The group found that nearly 40 per cent of the top results for search terms like “nudify,” “undress” and “deepnude” could create altered images of women, sometimes appearing in promoted placements or autocomplete suggestions.
The findings build on a January report that first identified dozens of such apps and focus on how discovery mechanisms, not just app availability, contribute to the problem. In one example, the first result for an App Store search for “deepfake” was a sponsored listing for an app that enabled users to place a person’s face onto explicit video content using uploaded images.
Testing conducted by the group showed how these tools function in practice. Researchers uploaded an image of a woman wearing a white sweater and paired it with a video of a topless woman. After displaying a short advertisement, the app generated a manipulated video placing the clothed woman’s face onto the nude body. A separate search for “face swap” returned a promoted listing for another app, AI Face Swap, which offered preset templates and allowed similar image manipulation using user-uploaded content without restrictions.
Autocomplete features also played a role, as typing partial queries such as “AI NS” prompted suggestions like “image to video ai nsfw,” which then returned multiple nudify apps among the top search results. According to the report, these discovery pathways make it easier for users to locate such tools even without precise search terms.
The investigation also involved outreach to app developers. In at least one instance, a developer confirmed using Grok for image generation but said they were unaware it could produce explicit outputs at that level and committed to tightening moderation settings. The report notes that some apps appeared to be categorised in ways that could make them accessible to minors, raising additional concerns about platform oversight.
While Apple and Google did not provide detailed responses to the findings, Apple removed most of the apps identified by the researchers after being contacted. The report states that both companies continue to face challenges preventing these apps from appearing in search results and advertising placements despite existing policies.
