Why ToyControl is not on the App Store

Apple does not allow adult-themed apps with toy control on the App Store, and Safari does not support Bluetooth toys either. Here is the honest situation.

We get this question often: "Why is there no ToyControl app on the iPhone App Store?" The short answer is that Apple has two separate rules that combine to make it impossible: their App Store policies do not allow apps in our category, and their web browser does not support the Bluetooth feature we would need to work around it. The longer answer is below.

The App Store rule

Apple's App Store Review Guidelines explicitly ban apps with "pornographic" or "overtly sexual" content. The interpretation extends to apps that control sex toys, even if the app itself shows no explicit content. Apps like Lovense Remote, Kiiroo's official apps, and many others have either been rejected from the App Store outright or have to ship "lite" versions that omit the actual toy control to slip through.

We could potentially ship a heavily-stripped ToyControl: maybe just a pattern generator, with no toy support. But that defeats the point. The toy control is the product.

So: a real ToyControl native iOS app would not pass App Store review. Apple has made this clear over years of rejections of similar apps.

The Safari rule

Suppose we sidestep the App Store entirely and just run as a website. Anyone can open Safari on iPhone and visit our site. That works for the website part. But Safari does not support Web Bluetooth, the browser feature that lets a web app talk to a Bluetooth toy.

This is a separate Apple decision from the App Store ban. Mozilla also did not add Web Bluetooth to Firefox (their reasoning is privacy-focused), but Apple is the bigger blocker for ToyControl because of the iPhone user base.

So: a website-only ToyControl works on iPhone but cannot pair a toy. It would be a website you could log into and look at, but the actual toy control would not work.

The combined effect

The App Store ban removes the native-app path. The Safari limitation removes the browser path. Both together, no iPhone path.

We added Bluefy as the workaround. Bluefy is a third-party iOS browser, available on the App Store, that includes Web Bluetooth. We did not make it; an independent developer did. With Bluefy installed, an iPhone user can open ToyControl in it and pair a toy.

Bluefy works. It is not ideal (it is not the default browser; users have to install and remember to use it), but it is the most direct path.

What to do as an iPhone user

You have three options:

  1. Use Bluefy on the iPhone. Open ToyControl in it. Pair a toy. Use the app like you would on any other browser. See How to use ToyControl on iPhone or iPad.
  2. Use a laptop or Android phone. Chrome on Mac, Windows, Linux, or Android all work natively.
  3. Wait for Apple to change one of the rules. We have no estimate of when this might happen.

What we hear from people who have tried

The Bluefy workaround is good enough for most casual iPhone users. They install it once, bookmark ToyControl in Bluefy, and treat Bluefy as "the ToyControl app". The friction is in setup, not in daily use.

Some users complain that Bluefy is not as polished as Safari. That is true. It is a small third-party browser, not a billion-dollar Apple product. But for the use case (loading one website and pairing a toy), it works fine.

Why we do not lobby Apple

You might ask: why don't we just ask Apple to change the policy? The answer: many apps and companies have, for years. Apple has been consistent. The policy is unlikely to change because we ask.

Web Bluetooth support in Safari is a more plausible thing to advocate for, and the WebKit team has talked about it on and off for years. It might come. It might not. Until it does, we cannot count on it.

What if Apple changes one rule

The Safari path is what we hope for. It removes the App Store from the equation entirely.

What about iPad

The same rules apply. iPad uses Safari under the hood, App Store policies are the same, no Web Bluetooth in Safari. Bluefy works on iPad too.

What about Mac

Mac is different. Mac has both Safari (no Web Bluetooth) and Chrome (full Web Bluetooth). Use Chrome (or Edge) on Mac and everything works natively. Plus you can run our helper app for VR.

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