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Apple Working on Plan to Allow AI Agent Apps on the App Store

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Apple is looking into ways to better support apps that include AI agents and AI coding capabilities in the App Store, reports The Information. Apple is designing a system that would maintain its security and privacy standards while allowing for AI app features, but details on how the system will work are unavailable.

Liquid-Glass-App-Store-Feature.jpg

Apple started blocking updates for some popular vibe coding apps in March because those apps violated App Store rules that prohibit apps from executing code that alters their own functionality or that of other apps. Vibe coding apps let users build apps and websites with little to no coding experience, using AI agents and natural language prompts. Vibe coding has become popular, and Apple's rules have not been able to keep up.

Apps that include AI agents present similar problems for Apple. AI agents can autonomously complete complex actions and make mini apps using tools and capabilities that would not traditionally be supported under Apple's App Store rules. Apple will need to make changes to keep up with the software trends that developers and users want.

Apple wants to incorporate AI agents into the App Store while preventing some of the issues that people have run into with rogue AI agents deleting content and causing other problems.

As it works to prepare for future AI apps, Apple is also developing its own AI capabilities. Siri is set to get a major overhaul in iOS 27, making it smarter and better able to compete with Claude and ChatGPT. Apple has partnered with Google to use custom Gemini models to power Siri.

The Information says Apple has started contacting app developers to integrate app capabilities like booking flights and sending calendar invites into the new version of Siri and Apple Intelligence. Some developers are hesitant to work with Apple to integrate their apps into Siri because they are worried about providing new ways for Apple to collect commissions. Apple is telling some developers that it does not plan to charge commissions during the early stages of the partnership, but that fees are a possibility in the future. Apple has held talks with Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent about Siri integration in iOS 27, but the companies do not want to end up paying fees to Apple.

Apple also plans to allow users to select from multiple chatbots to use with Siri, instead of limiting people to OpenAI's ChatGPT. AI models from companies like Anthropic or Google could be used for Image Playground and Writing Tools the way ChatGPT can be used today.

It is not clear if Apple plans to open up more of iOS to third-party chatbots, but OpenAI has reportedly been disappointed with Apple's limitations. ChatGPT can be used to generate images and text through the iOS integration, but it cannot access user emails or other personal information. Customers are also rarely using the functionality, according to The Information.

Apple's new version of Siri is expected to be unveiled at the WWDC keynote on June 8, and the plans that Apple has for agentic AI apps in the App Store could also be discussed at the same time.

Article Link: Apple Working on Plan to Allow AI Agent Apps on the App Store
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/05/13/apple-ai-agent-apps-app-store/
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germanbeer007 said:
But I was told Apple is evil and wanted Siri to be the only solution so Apple wants it locked down.
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This is why apple is preventing developers from doing it and trying to shoehorn Siri into it. Its money, its always about money.

The Information says Apple has started contacting app developers to integrate app capabilities like booking flights and sending calendar invites into the new version of Siri and Apple Intelligence. Some developers are hesitant to work with Apple to integrate their apps into Siri because they are worried about providing new ways for Apple to collect commissions. Apple is telling some developers that it does not plan to charge commissions during the early stages of the partnership, but that fees are a possibility in the future. Apple has held talks with Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent about Siri integration in iOS 27, but the companies do not want to end up paying fees to Apple.
 
MrSnirf said:
Some developers are hesitant to work with Apple to integrate their apps into Siri because they are worried about providing new ways for Apple to collect commissions.
Click to expand...


"they are worried"


My uncle is worried that Apple employees might be recording him while sitting on the toilet and bought a camera privacy cover.

That doesn't mean it's true.
 
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All I want is a functional digital assistant. Great, allow super apps that can vibe code other super apps. Put in all the extensions and voices and frameworks and intents. But I just want to ask Siri how much I owe the electric company and it can interpret that query, find that bill in my email, and tell me my balance (something Gemini has been doing for a year).
 
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I think the hardest part is going to prevent an agent from deleting things that are un-recoverable.

Think about contact cards. They used to be files with a .vcard extension, but over time the contacts app has morphed into a sort of database and now if you delete a contact, that contact card doesn't go into the recycling bin, it's just gone. How do you stop an AI agent from erroneously doing something like that, something that you can't recover from?
 
thejadedmonkey said:
I think the hardest part is going to prevent an agent from deleting things that are un-recoverable.

Think about contact cards. They used to be files with a .vcard extension, but over time the contacts app has morphed into a sort of database and now if you delete a contact, that contact card doesn't go into the recycling bin, it's just gone. How do you stop an AI agent from erroneously doing something like that, something that you can't recover from?
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I imagine changes made by AI to be reversible, or maybe limited. Or maybe Apple will release Time Machine on iPhone, I wonder.
 
Just let it create and run apps locally within the already created sandboxing and permissions system. Many of the pieces are already there.

But, if it works too well it will short circuit the app store subscription revenue model. And we can't have that, now can we?

Imagine if you could create the task manager that works for exactly the way you work, and but you don't have to code it yourself and get a developer account and pay $99 a year for the privilege, or try to find one of a million apps someone else made to fit the way they work and charge you annually for that privilege.
 
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So if the "AI" installed on an iPhone deletes a contact - it is gone because that news is transmitted to all of the user's Apple gear and deleted on all of them as soon as the device comes on line. Once the backups are re-written, the prior info is GONE.

Back in the days of the DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts) VAX operating system (VMS was never compromised as compared to Windows in the military), every time the file was saved, a new incremented from the last one number was appended to the file name. So a new file with 20 backups would have 21 images with unique sequential numbers so if version 8 of the 20 had it right, one could go to that specific version.

So the technology existed nearly 50 years ago for multiple unique backups of each file as it was saved. How quaint.

HOW REALLY USEFUL!

The younger folks do not know what they missed out on in the computer industry that was actually very useful.
 
Maybe it’s just me, but the more that Apple moves towards AI, the less I want to be a part of it.

Anyone foolish enough to allow an AI agent to take over the file and data storage/deletion operations of their computer should realize the risks in doing so. Apple could require that AI agent apps be given explicit user permission before running agents that perform file, e-mail or Internet operations. As @turbineseaplane mentioned, it’s a game of whack-a-mole. No one will be able to keep up, not even Apple.

If you’re concerned about your files and personal data at all, just say no to AI agents. Period.
 
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I'm going to be the smart ass who creates a chaotic agent and calls it Agent Smith. Want to know what it does? Install it and find out. 😈

Agent Smith.jpg
 
So annoying that Apple is going to end up crippling the iPhone because they won’t commit to taking a cut of another companies revenue. Apple these developers are the reason people buy iPhones!
 
If one has an iPhone 17 of some kind or older, hang on to it. The 18 series may smell a lot like a very damp and full barn yard or feed lot. Suggest waiting to this time next year to see ion iOS 27 is safe to down load.
 
germanbeer007 said:
"they are worried"


My uncle is worried that Apple employees might be recording him while sitting on the toilet and bought a camera privacy cover.

That doesn't mean it's true.
Click to expand...
Except that Apple explicitly said that they may do so in the future. So to use your example "Apple employees have said they will not be recording him sitting on the toilet but may do so in the future" still don't want the camera privacy cover?
 
Hajj.david said:
Except that Apple explicitly said that they may do so in the future.
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"but that fees are a possibility in the future."

is it possible that Tim Cook can direct its engineers to implement remote viewing access to your camera whenever you sit on a toilet? yes. it's a possibility.
 
If the iPhone is connected to the internet via a cell tower, bluetooth to another device or ethernet to the wall, it has an IP number assigned while connected. The iPhone serial number is probably hardwired into the iPhone firmware. So yes, the technology exists to find that serial number and control the camera.

A piece of black tape over the camera lenses makes them unable to see, but the microphone still hears and transmits the sounds around the iPhone.

So a really paranoid person could put the iPhone into a sealed steel box with lead over that and then his personal noises and images would not be transmitted to ??????
 
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