Apple announced several new child protection features in August to help keep children safer online. One of these features, "Communications Safety," appears to be included in the iOS 15.2 beta, it is now reported.
As the US blog MacRumors reported, references were discovered in the code of iOS 15.2 that address the "Communication Safety" feature. Strictly speaking, the code for the function is supposed to be there. However, it remains unclear for the time being whether the feature is activated.
“Communication security” briefly explained
But what exactly is this so-called “communication security”? For those who have forgotten it, here is the explanation again. The feature concentrated focused on increasing the safety of children communicating online using Apple's iMessage. For example, the iMessage app will display warnings for children and parents when they receive or send sexually explicit images. When a child receives a sensitive image, it will automatically be blurred and the child will be presented with helpful resources. Apple has also built in a mechanism to let children know that a message will be sent to their parents if they do view the image (for children under 13). The system uses on-device machine learning to analyze images and determine whether they are sexually explicit. It is designed so that Apple does not receive a copy of the image.
iOS 15.2 Beta: Parents must enable feature
In addition, the code in iOS 15.2 includes some of the language that children will see when the system issues a warning. There are specific language for both children under 13 and children over 13, as the feature sets different behaviors for each age group. As mentioned above, parents will not be notified if a child over 13 views a nude photo. However, if a child under 13 does, parents will be notified automatically. All of these communication safety features must be enabled by parents and are available through Family Sharing, so this is an opt-in process that is only available for child accounts.
Which countries are taken into account?
As a reminder, in addition to communication security, a new CSAM initiative was also announced, in which Apple will scan photos for child sexual abuse material. This has caused a lot of discussion and criticism, which is why Apple has decided to delay the introduction of these child protection features. Originally, the whole thing was supposed to be introduced in iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey in the US. At this point, there is no indication that the CSAM feature is included in the iOS 15.2 beta. So it is possible that Apple will first introduce "communication security" before implementing the full range of child safety features. It also remains to be seen whether it will initially only be available in the US or also in other countries. (Photo by oasisamuel / Bigstockphoto)
