iPhone owners are just realizing their phone has a hidden ‘nudity detector’ – but you might never have noticed it
APPLE smartphones have a genius feature that can protect you from seeing disturbing images.
It’s called Sensitive Content Warning, and it could save you from a visual nightmare.
It’s off by default, so you may have missed it unless you’ve been digging through settings.
And it was only added in mid-September as part of the iOS 17 update.
The idea is that if a stranger sends you a nude image, it will blur the image.
This is useful even if you receive a nude image from someone you know – but maybe don’t want it to be visible because you’re in public.
“You can have your iPhone (or your family member’s iPhone) check for sensitive images and warn you before they’re sent or received,” Apple explained.
“Sensitive Content Warning uses on-device machine learning to analyze photos and videos.
“Because they’re analyzed on your device, Apple doesn’t receive an indication that nudity was detected and does not get access to the photos or videos as a result.”
When the image is received and the iPhone detects nudity, it will be blurred and show a warning that the content is sensitive.
If you want to view it anyway, simply tap Show.
This will work for both photos and videos, and covers you on AirDrop, Contacts, Messages and Video Messages.
You can also tap the Alert button (a warning triangle with an exclamation mark inside) if you want help or to block the sender.
How to turn on Sensitive Content Warning for iPhone
The warnings are off by default, and require iOS 17.
To get iOS 17, go to Settings > General > Software Update for the free download.
And once you turn it on, you’ll be able to select the apps and services that make use of it.
For instance, you could have it on for AirDrop, but off for Messages.
To turn it on, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Sensitive Content Warning and toggle the feature on.
The warnings will be automatically turned on for all of the apps and features that support it.
So if you want to turn it off for any of them, you’ll have to manually toggle those items on the list.
Note that turning Sensitive Content Warning on for your iPhone will also enable it on your paired Apple Watch too, if you have one.
Remember: you can turn the warnings off at any time.