An AI pet portrait maker or workout app that looks harmless could be hiding nudifying tools. According to a Wired investigation, hundreds of apps on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store were found disguising themselves as pet photo editor, language tutor, workout coaches and other mundane apps.
Under the right conditions, those ordinary-looking apps quietly switched over to a hidden interface that generated sexually abusive deepfakes. Researchers from AI Forensics uncovered the network, which includes 400+ connected apps and domains.
How did ordinary AI apps hide their deepfake generators?
These apps used a sneaky server-side trick to keep the nudifying features hidden. When someone installs the app, it pings a remote server with details such as their location, language, device identifier, and how they found it. The server then decides whether to show them the harmless version or the hidden web interface.
The hidden layer offers dozens of explicit deepfake templates, letting users upload real photos and insert them into explicit scenes, including ones involving threats and violence. Researchers say certain triggers can also reveal the hidden interface. For instance, installing an app after clicking an advertisement on Facebook or Instagram.
Users can buy digital currency to generate sexual deepfakes, and the network reportedly spread through deceptive ads on Meta’s platforms, sometimes using fake business names and accounts with zero followers. The investigation found that some apps even accepted payments through Apple Pay and Google Pay. Their harmless-looking listings and all-ages ratings had no warning for unsuspecting users.
Who’s behind these apps?
Wired traced much of the network to Chinese developers and a Hong Kong entity called KeLing Technology Limited, which scrubbed its online presence after being contacted. One popular app had over 100,000 downloads before Google pulled it, and Apple removed 19 more after learning about the scheme, including the pet portrait app Viefur.
Apple said the apps had complied with its rules during review, but developers later changed their behavior. Recently, App Store also updated its rules against nudifying and bait-and-switch apps. Meta says it banned KeLing from advertising in 2025 and has since taken action against 11,600 ad accounts, 5,200 users, and blocked 209 apps tied to the scheme.
The EU’s ban on nudifier apps takes effect in just one month. Yet similar ads kept resurfacing even as WIRED wrapped up its investigation, showing how relentlessly these AI deepfake operators keep finding ways to push their apps.
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