Parental Control: Apple iOS 16 can detect nude photos in iMessages

While this feature is already available in the United States and other countries, Apple will roll out the new Advanced Parental Controls via iOS 16 to iPhone, Mac, and iPad in France and Germany in September 2022.

With iOS 16, Apple has brought in a lot of new features and several improvements, such as the ability to remove native applications, an overhaul of the concentration mode on the iPhone, or a simplification of duplicate photos. In addition, the latest version of Apple’s OS also offers a whole new advanced parental control system, which in particular can activate additional security in communications in iMessages.

As Apple just announced, this new parental control will be available in France and Germany from the start of the 2022 school year. In particular, it will contain a function that will: the iPhone to identify the presence of nudes or photos of a sexual nature in a message.

To activate this feature, parents must first have activated Family Sharing in iCloud. They find this new security option in the tab “screen time”. Once this is done, when the child receives a photo, an AI will analyze it locally (no data sent to Apple).

iOS 16 blurs pornographic photos on iPhone

For example, if it is a pornographic photo, it will be blurry. A warning message will then appear to remind you that:

• these photos and videos show private body parts
• these pictures and videos can be used to hurt the child
• that the person in the photo may not consent to its distribution

After reading these instructions, the child then has the choice not to see the photo or to view it anyway, or notify one of his parents (or responsible adult). Apple plans countermeasures for kids trying to send nude photos, with a message to warn them of the danger of this practice.

He will also be invited to speak to a relative. Nevertheless, the child remains the only captain on board and can send the photo if desired. However, we regret that this new feature is only available on iOS 16 and in iMessages. Indeed, other instant messaging applications do not offer comparable filtering. Finally, we note some improvements on the Siri side it is now able to answer the various questions a child may have about this sensitive subject.