Apple Announces Child Safety Features, So That Little Ones Keep Safe While Online

Child safety features on iOS 15 (9to5mac)

YOGYAKARTA - One of the advantages of modern times is the ease of communication. Through the help of the application, we can now send various types of media files – ranging from photos, videos, or audio.

However, criminal acts will always exist in every development. This is no exception in terms of ease of communication. Thanks to the easier delivery of media files, the content of a sexual nature is easier to spread and wider in scale.

Indeed, if only sent between two adults and with the consent of both parties, sexual content certainly does not matter. However, it is different if this content is distributed without consent. Or, even, the content contains children.

Undeniably, it was covered again. The exploitation of children's content to fulfill someone's sexual desires is now easier to find. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, Apple announced additional features for child safety.

“Di wants to help protect children from predators who use communication tools to recruit and exploit them. As well as limiting the spread of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)", the company wrote through its official blog which was uploaded last week, Thursday, August 5.

Three-Area Child Safety Features

In order to face the increasing challenge of crimes against children, Apple is introducing new security features. Focusing on child safety, the development of this feature is the result of Apple's collaboration with child safety experts.

The company said that this new feature will focus on three areas. First, the latest communication tools that allow parents to get more information and help their little ones during online communication.

"The (new) Messages app will use Machine Learning to alert sensitive content while keeping private communications from being read by Apple", the company said.

This feature will display an alert on the child's and parents' mobile phone screens when the Little One's account sends or receives explicit photos. When your child's phone receives a prohibited photo, the photo will be blurred.

The second feature is the application of cryptography on iOS and iPadOS. This technology is claimed to be able to limit the spread of CSAM content online, as well as being designed to maintain user privacy. CSAM detection will later help Apple to provide information to law enforcement.

Finally, there are Siri and Search updates that make it easier for parents and children to go online. In addition, it also adds additional security if when online the child is caught in a dangerous condition.

"SIRI and Search will also intervene with users if they are looking for CSAM-related topics", the company said.

According to Apple, these features are planned to be present in the latest version of the operating system which will be launched soon. These include iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey.