iOS 18.2 Lets Children Report Nudity in iMessages, Starting in Australia

Starting with iOS 18.2, children in Australia have a new option to report iMessages containing nude photos and videos to Apple, the company told The Guardian. Apple said it will review these reports and could take action, such as by disabling the sender's Apple Account and/or reporting the incident to law enforcement.

iOS 18 2 Communication Safety Report Feature
The report outlined what these reports will include:

The device will prepare a report containing the images or videos, as well as messages sent immediately before and after the image or video. It will include the contact information from both accounts, and users can fill out a form describing what happened.

The feature comes after Australia introduced new rules that will require tech companies like Apple to take stronger measures to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms by the end of 2024, according to the report.

Apple said it plans to make this feature available globally in the future, according to the report, but no timeframe was provided.

This is an extension of Apple's existing Communication Safety feature for iMessage, which launched in the U.S. with iOS 15.2 in 2021. With the release of iOS 17 last year, Apple expanded the feature worldwide and enabled it by default for children who are under the age of 13, signed in to their Apple Account, and part of a Family Sharing group.

Communication Safety is designed to warn children when they receive or send iMessages containing nudity, and Apple ensures that the feature relies entirely on on-device processing as a privacy protection. The feature also applies to AirDrop content, FaceTime video messages, and Contact Posters in the Phone app. Parents can turn off the feature on their child's device in the Settings app under Screen Time if they wish to.

The nudity reporting option comes after Apple in 2022 abandoned its controversial plans to detect known CSAM stored in iCloud Photos.

The first iOS 18.2 beta was released yesterday for devices with Apple Intelligence support, including iPhone 15 Pro models and all iPhone 16 models. The software update is expected to be widely released to the public in December.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...

Top Rated Comments

antiprotest Avatar
18 weeks ago
But there is no way to report someone for not sending nudes, even after they promised. ?‍♂
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jjdodders Avatar
18 weeks ago
Nobody is a parent anymore. Just adults with pet children. Maybe stop giving your kids access to the internet before they're old enough?! Actually PARENT your children. The child should be telling their parents so they can go to the police. Why are we deferring that responsibility to a Tech Corporation!?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MegaBlue Avatar
18 weeks ago

Won't it be better for Apple to use Apple Intelligence to figure out the image, check for nudity, and block it?
This is already done. On-device intelligence has been identifying this for child accounts since 15.2.

What’s added is now the child can actually submit a report to Apple.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheDailyApple Avatar
18 weeks ago
Nice, hope this makes creeps think twice before harassing others.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
clayj Avatar
18 weeks ago

Won't it be better for Apple to use Apple Intelligence to figure out the image, check for nudity, and block it?
Perhaps, but that's a complicated situation. Do we want to be able to identify criminals and take them off the streets, or prevent SOME of the crimes they commit while allowing them to continue criminal activity with others (e.g., those who don't have iPhones)? Should Apple be in the business of referring text messages directly to law enforcement without the victim being involved in the process? How much invasion of privacy is acceptable? What happens when a system starts interfering with legitimate messages (e.g., two consenting adults trading nudie pics with each other)?

These are just a few of the questions that have been raised in the past. I do agree that building in a reporting function is a good idea.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SigurTom Avatar
18 weeks ago
How about letting ADULTS report nudity in imessages?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)