If you’ve heard rumors that the artificial intelligence law “bans apps,” you can rest easy. The keyboard with suggestions or the photo filter you use every week will still work normally.
What has come into force is the EU AI Regulation. Its prohibitions have been in effect since February 2, 2025, the fines regime has been in place since August of that year, and in Spain it is monitored by the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA).
However, the regulation does not publish a list of banned applications by name. It prohibits certain uses of AI, and we’ll discuss that next.
Types of AI that are completely prohibited
Europe classifies AI by risk levels, like a traffic light. Almost everything you use daily is green, and only a few uses reach red.
Use of unacceptable risk according to the EU
These are the ones that clash with fundamental rights, so they are prohibited or only permitted in very specific cases. These are the eight main ones.
- Manipulating your decisions with subliminal or deceptive techniques that harm you.
- Taking advantage of a person’s vulnerability, for example, due to their age or disability.
- To rate people for their social behavior ( social scoring ).
- Predicting that someone will commit a crime based solely on their profile.
- Create facial recognition databases with images tracked from the internet or cameras.
- Detecting emotions at work or in the classroom, except for medical or safety reasons.
- To deduce a person’s sexual orientation or beliefs from biometric data, such as face or voice.
- Identifying people live in public spaces for police purposes, except in very specific cases.
So, in which apps on your mobile phone is all this noticeable?
Apps and tools affected on your mobile
In far fewer cases than you might imagine. The law regulates the use of AI, not the application itself, so your map or assistant is not affected.
They would only have to change those that include any function from the list above, and several of them revolve around the face.
Facial recognition and mass tracking
Imagine a service that reads a person’s face to deduce their sexual orientation or beliefs. That function is prohibited, as is the live identification of people in public for police purposes, except in very specific circumstances.
Unlocking your phone with your face is another thing, because then the phone only checks that it’s you.
The other aspect related to facial recognition refers to obtaining the images.
Mass capture of facial data (scraping)
Web scraping involves using automated programs to scan the internet and copy large amounts of content. The law prohibits using this method to create databases of faces from photos taken on social media or from surveillance cameras.
Simply put, the photos you share with your friends shouldn’t end up feeding a face finder.
Given this situation, a practical question arises: Can you be fined?
Impact on the user
For you, daily life doesn’t change, because the responsibilities fall on those who create and market the technology.
Who does the law penalize: the user or the developer?
The law fines the developer and, in general, anyone who puts an AI system on the market or uses it professionally. Personal use is excluded.
The most serious infringements can cost up to €35 million or 7% of the company’s global revenue. In Spain, AESIA oversees these matters, with the Spanish Data Protection Agency playing a key role when biometrics are involved, and the country is currently finalizing its own sanctions regime.
And what happens to the app itself when it fails to comply?
Removal from App Store and Google Play
Authorities can require its removal from the market, and stores usually react when they receive the notification. For you, that would mean an app disappearing or an update removing a feature.
If you use any service that might be affected, we recommend saving your data and reading the developer’s warnings. The GDPR, the European data protection regulation, also allows you to request that your data be deleted.
And if an app disappears, there are plenty of alternatives.
Legal and safe alternatives
Translating text or editing a photo with AI are uses of minimal or limited risk, and the apps that offer them continue on their path without changes.
AI apps that do comply with the standard
Those that prioritize user care are recognized by their transparency. They notify you when you’re interacting with an AI and explain what data they use, in addition to having an identifiable company behind them.
More and more providers are working this way, and there are concrete signs to verify it in any app.
How to check the privacy of an app
Before installing, it’s worth reviewing these six points.
- Read the store’s information. The App Store’s privacy labels and Google Play’s Data Security section summarize what the app collects.
- Check the permissions. A recipe app doesn’t need your camera or your contacts.
- Look for a clear privacy policy , preferably in Spanish.
- Check who developed it. A company with a website and contact information inspires more confidence.
- Confirm that you can delete your data or your account whenever you want.
- Check out the updates and recent reviews , because a well-maintained app stays alive.
Now you know which practices are restricted in Europe and how to examine an app before installing it. With that knowledge, you can continue enjoying artificial intelligence with the peace of mind that your rights are protected.