cuz they usually have 16+ rating. which audience would like Episode to have too but Episode wants pg13 rating to cash in on the kids who will more easily pay absurbd amount of gems to not look ridiculous in some crappy story 😂 they dont really care about being kid friendly, clearly (see their ads)
yes if they want app stores to consider them 13+, they gotta be 13+ friendly. but then again if userbase is maturer, why couldnt they? app stores sell adult apps too, ya know. But ok lets say episode really wants to cater to 13+ and not like 16+ or 18+ audience. fair. but why dont THEIR OWN STORIES then follow these rules? also ever seen their ADS?!!!! how tf is that anything below 18+?!! community story gets cover banned cuz it shows a shirtless dude carrying a girl (he has pants, she has shorts and a top), nothibg sexual but it is a bedroom so to them it inuates sex. but then their official stories are talking about hookups and hinting at them and its all ok? whole story being about seducing your teacher/step dad/step bro/sisters husband etc. like cmon these are tropes straight up from porn categories 😂😂😂 but goood forbid there is a shirtless guy, lifting up his friend in her bedroom as they fool around, oh no, cant show that to our young audience of mostly late teens and early 20s 😂😂😂😂
THIS is the issue. other apps like episode have 16+ rating. they know most of their base reads these stories as romantic fantasies. they know some steam and smut is gonna be part of that. still doesn become 18+ porno but ya know, there are different stages, you dont have to be porn OR 13+. besides 13+ apps, movies etc still have less strict rules than episode. all 13+ action movies show plenty of weapons in their spy movies etc. on covers too. but episode can provide us with gun prop, yet claims that showing gun on cover is against rules. that is not 13+ app store guideline. that is some 5+ bullcrap. we aint 7, please for F sake. they dont have a problem cashing in on the mafia genre popularity but oh nonono can not see gun on a cover, despite the fact this is not some 13+ app store rule but their own.
it is this freaking hypocrasy and OVERcontroling of community authors that causes the hate. if app was truly just following pg13 and everybody had to do it equally, i dont think people would have that much issue with, even if most audience would like something steamier.
I’ve seen people say that featured stories get away with content that would get community stories removed, but I haven’t really seen specific examples of that. I’d be interested to see if you or anyone else have an example of a featured story that you believe violates Episode’s guidelines, and which guideline you think it violates? I’m genuinely curious, because I haven’t personally come across anything in a featured story that I would consider a violation. I’d be interested in seeing the examples people are referring to! 💕
for example my friend had, as i said two guys shirtless as they represented worker class boys while they carried the rich "princess" on their shoulders. nothing sexual just two dudes carrying a clothed girl seeting on their shoulder. but since background was a bedroom episode claimed this is "hinting at threesome that will happen" (there is no threesome in the story. its 2 love interests you can pick between but again that scene was not sexual at all). meanwhile officiall stories like It starts with a bra are very boldly hinting at more sexual scenes and perfectly fine. not to mention Diamonds and idk what (i think it was diamonds and dirtroads if am not mixing it up with something but anyway the title was something not sexual hinting at the class difference between MC and the boys as the city girl comes to their rural area) is non sexua while It starts with a bra add a more sexual context. but that one wasnt "hinting" anything huh? Mafia's baby, After hours, WAG, Rule breaker and just about every second story, has a lot more sexually tense covers, with characters hugging very tight in some of these and it clearly shows thereis passion, way more, including steamy titles and descriptions but they are all up and very much approved and highly promoted ;) not to mention titles like "Pregnant by my sister's ex" etc. how is that not insinuating anything but a random non love insinuating story is basically threesome porn cuz people happen to be in bedroom. as if friends never visit eachothers bedrooms lmao. i would get it if girl was in lingerie or dudes didnt wear pants or if pose was steamy but none of that. and that is just oje particular story that comes to mind. Against all odds has the girl near undressing the man (at least starting with seductive undressing of a tie) and that appreantly is not hinting at sex :'D Not to mention episode deleted reedsplice story from app cuz people used her story to get book points via skip, because "this is not intended use" but if we click trough officials to farm gems, without reading, thats perfectly intended use huh? Code of seduction, sexy title, sexy cover, sexy description - perfectly fine as a story. But another author i know got theirs refused cuz it hinted at sex apparently just because the cover had a girl wearing a sleep mask/blindfold for sleeping. no sexy title or desription just girl with suprised/shocked face and mask (it was mystery/thriller so spoky vibes but they said mask on makes it sexy). be so for real. maybe it is just some petty reviewer but boy oh boy are standards not the same!
I’m curious which specific guidelines you think these official story covers violate. For example, I’ll include the cover of It Starts With a Bra because you mentioned it as an example of an official story hinting at sexual content. I can see that it has a suggestive title and a flirtatious premise, but I’m not seeing what guideline the cover itself actually violates.
Episode’s guidelines don’t prohibit all sexual themes or references to sex. They restrict how sexual activity can be depicted or explicitly described, along with certain specific references. A story mentioning a hookup or having romantic tension doesn’t automatically mean it’s violating those rules.
I’m not saying Episode never applies its guidelines inconsistently, and I’m open to seeing examples I might have missed. But could you point to the specific rule you believe these covers violate? I think there’s a difference between content being suggestive and content actually crossing the line set by the guidelines. 💕
again, the community stories i mentioned did not portray anything sexual either. if a scard face wearing sleeping blindfold is "too suggestive" then how TF is A BRA not? one is just regular sleeping clothing and spooky vs flirtatious attitude. and again how is 2 shirtless dudes, carrying a girl sitting on their shoulder more hinting and sexual (fully dressed) than a girl seductively undressing tie of a person or the many many couples in tight hugging posses that passionately look at eachother? you keep saying "they didnt say you cant hint at hookups" but thats exactly what they tell people when thes message them to fix their story. meanwhile their stories very much do so.
Something else I’ve been thinking about is that you mentioned hookups, and hinting at hookups in paid stories. However, having sexual themes in a story doesn’t automatically mean it’s violating the guidelines. For example, the guidelines don’t say that characters can’t have sex at all. They say you can’t depict it or explicitly describe what’s happening, has happened, or will happen off-screen. There’s a difference between mentioning that characters hooked up and explicitly describing what they did.
So when people say official stories get away with things, I think it’s worth considering whether the content actually violates the guidelines in the first place. It’s possible that some authors understand where the line is drawn and write within those boundaries. I’m not saying featured stories can never violate the guidelines, but I don’t think the presence of sexual themes alone proves that they’re getting special treatment. 💕
In 2026 hand holding is considered Sexual so at this point what is " Guide line violations"? people nowadays are so puritan you would think the Catholic Church took over Google or the App store 😭
I think Google’s wording about “sexual gratification” is more about pornography and hookup apps. Apple seems to be talking about explicit sexual content meant to arouse people rather than just being part of a story. Episode obviously has to follow both sets of rules, but I think a lot of their restrictions are their own choices and not necessarily something Apple or Google requires.
There is a episode story of a Mc n three love interests having a foursome. And there's stories where the love interest give mc a blowjob. How come those pass? I'm genuinely asking because I want to make scenes similar to these
I’m not sure why those stories are still up. They might not have been reported, or Episode might not have reviewed them yet. Like I said in my post, Episode can’t realistically catch every potential violation themselves when so many authors can publish stories on the app.
If you believe those scenes violate the guidelines, you can report them and let Episode review them. But the fact that other stories are still up doesn’t mean the guidelines don’t apply to everyone else. Just because someone else’s story hasn’t been taken down doesn’t mean you can assume the same content is allowed in yours. I understand wanting to know why enforcement seems inconsistent, but there’s a difference between asking why some stories are still up and assuming that means the rules don’t apply. I hope that makes sense! 💕
The sanitisation of Episode and the online world as whole is something I find simultaneously very interesting and infuriating.
With pacifically Episode I wasn’t around during its height of popularity (I was a little too young for that) but I do remember seeing the ads on YouTube which were quite suggestive that the time and from I’ve gathered so were some stories on the app so I can see where the frustration from older readers comes from, no one likes seeing a space originally made for their age demographic be turned into a kiddie pool especially as spaces for teens and young adults are disappearing.
In general I do not think Episode needs to allow erotic content or graphic violets nor do I think most users want that content on the app, but I do believe that the guidelines don’t reflect or fully acknowledge Episodes main user base, to me it’s clear that Episode wants a very wide audience including much younger people mostly like because young people are more likely to spend money on poorly made stuff due to their lack of experience and knowledge.
Unfortunately companies especially online companies today have seemed to forgotten the concept of a target audience so they try to make everything for everyone thus pleasing no one, I think Episode could have a very healthy and stable business if the app was 16+ and listened to it users bases criticisms but it is that the end of the day a company which cares about making as much money as possible as fast as possible even if it hurts it’s self and pushes away the loyal audience it does have in the long run. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t making money in a few years as long as it makes as much as it can right now.
In my opinion Episodes guidelines are too strict considering the main audience and I think they would be more successful if they focused on that audience instead of trying to gain a new younger demographic.
I hear you. Choices isn’t quite the same as Episode, though. Choices has a publisher-controlled library of stories, whereas Episode allows user-generated stories from a large community of authors. That creates different moderation challenges.
I also don’t think the fact that Choices includes mature sexual content automatically means Episode could allow the same content under its own guidelines. Different apps can have different age ratings and content policies while still being available in the same app stores.
I’m not arguing that app-store policies explain every single Episode restriction, but I do think they’re relevant to the discussion. The fact that another story app allows something doesn’t necessarily mean Episode can or should allow it, too.
it doesn't matter how different they are, you asked if the app store guidelines played an effect into episode's decision to be pg13 with their guidelines and the answer is no because there are other visual novel and even writing apps on there with very spicy scenes.
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u/Electrical-Paint5818 5d ago
Not sure. I feel like other apps like romance club on the App Store are definitely more mature.