Apple Expands iMessage Underage Nudity Alerts to Spain

In 2021, Apple began implementing communications security measures, a series of measures designed to protect minors from certain dangers to which they are exposed from a smartphone connected to the Internet. Although the offer began its journey in the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, among other territories, it gradually began to expand. Today, finally, he arrived in Spain.

Although regular parental controls are a good tool for preventing incidents, they cannot cover all dangerous situations that may arise. After all, the iPhone is a device that can perform many functions. In the hands of a minor, this can backfire.

Thus, Apple Communications Security focuses on a more specific event. If a minor receives or sends a nude image, iMessage may detect it and display it as a faded image.. The app will also trigger a minor warning and offer support resources. Actually, be able to notify a trusted person (in their family circle) to help them. That way, of course, their parents or guardians will also be aware of what happened.

When Cupertino representatives broke the news, there were concerns about the mistaken assumption that the company was vetting conversations. However, Apple has repeatedly said that Image analysis takes place inside the device. If it detects explicit content, the warning will not leave it (unless the minor decides to request adult intervention).

“This feature is designed so that no sign of nudity detection leaves the device. Apple does not have access to messages and notifications are not sent to parents or anyone else,” they add.

The protections also rely on Siri, Spotlight and Safari search to give kids and parents more information about how to stay safe. For example, users who ask Siri how they can report child exploitation will be redirected to resources on where and how to file a report. In fact, all of these tools can detect when a user is doing searches related to child exploitation and intervene to explain how harmful they are.

Now it’s important to note that Apple’s child protection not enabled by default. Therefore, an adult is obliged to allow them. Another point to keep in mind is that in Spain protection is available until the user is 18 years old. In addition, if the minor is under 14 years of age, the warning messages will be specifically written to be understandable in that age range.

Apple communications security will arrive in Spain with the next version of iOS 16which should be available within a few days.