iPhones Are Getting a Native Porn App. What Is Hot Tub?

If you’re living in the European Union and own an iOS device, now is your chance to download something you probably never had the chance to download before: a dedicated pornography app. It’s called Hot Tub and it exists thanks to a court ruling that forced Apple to allow alternative app stores on its devices.

The app is available in an alternative app store called AltStore PAL. It lets users search through and watch all manner of porn from sites like PornHub and XHamster while offering a streamlined browsing experience with no ads or pop-ups.

Meet Hot Tub, The EU’s First Native iPhone Porn App

This easily navigable porn app is made possible by the DMA, Europe’s Digital Markets Act, a fairly recent piece of EU regulation that aims to create a fairer digital economy. One of the ways it does that is by forcing closed ecosystems like Apple’s iOS devices to offer a wider range of digital storefronts from which users can find apps rather than just leaving them to choose from what’s available in Apple’s App Store.

Apps like Hot Tub will go through the same Notarization process on iOS as any other app, but all that does is ensure that the app meets “baseline platform integrity standards.” Essentially, all they do is prove that the app works and that the simple act of installing it doesn’t ruin your phone. Apple says that alternative app stores can shovel out unrated apps that can be filled with porn, weapons, and hate speech. Hot Tub is the first porn app to pass Apple’s Notarization process.

The platform behind Hot Tub, AltStore, says it will be donating some of the money earned through its Patreon to support sex workers and LGBTQ+ causes through donations to charitable organizations like the Trevor Project and the Red Umbrella Fund