iOS 17 Brings Comprehensive Protection Against Unwanted Nude Images

Apple's forthcoming iOS 17 will include a suite of new options to protect both children and adults from inappropriate and/or unwanted sexual content. The features are a significant expansion of the technology already available via Communication Safety. Currently, parents can enable Communication Safety for their kids, which intervenes when it detects nudity in photos in the Messages app, either sending or receiving. In iOS 17, this protection expands to video content, AirDrop, FaceTime video messages, Contact Posters in the Phone app, and the Photos picker. In addition, a new API lets developers add Communication Safety to third-party apps. For adults, this same technology has been repackaged as a separate feature called Sensitive Content Warning. It only applies to receiving images and videos in Messages, AirDrop, a FaceTime video message, and the Phone app when receiving a Contact Poster. It's an optional feature that can be turned on in Privacy & Security settings. When enabled, sensitive photos are blurred by default, but can still be viewed with an extra step. Both Communication Safety and Sensitive Content Warning use on-device processing, so no content is uploaded to Apple nor any other party.