About Sensitive Content Warning on Apple devices
Sensitive Content Warning warns you about photos or videos that might contain sensitive content before you view them – including nudity or gore and violence. You can also view resources to help you make a safe choice.
Check for sensitive photos and videos
Sensitive Content Warning helps you avoid receiving unwanted sensitive photos or videos on your Apple device.
If a photo or video may contain nudity or gore and violence, it's blurred before you view it.
You can also view guidance and resources to help you make a choice that you're comfortable with.
How Sensitive Content Warning protects your privacy
Sensitive Content Warning uses on-device machine learning to analyse photos and videos for sensitive content, including nudity or gore and violence. Because photos and videos are analysed on your device, Apple doesn't receive an indication that sensitive content was detected and doesn't get access to the photos or videos.
Where Sensitive Content Warning detects sensitive content
Sensitive Content Warning detects sensitive content in these apps and services:
On iPhone or iPad: Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app and the Contacts app, FaceTime calls and video messages*, shared photo albums and when you select a photo or video to share in some third-party apps.
On Mac: Messages, Contact Posters in the Phone app and the Contacts app, shared photo albums and when you select a photo or video to share in some third-party apps.
On Apple Watch: Messages, Contact Posters in the Phone app and the Contacts app, and FaceTime video messages.
On Apple Vision Pro*: Messages, AirDrop and when you select a photo or video to share in some third-party apps.
*Gore and violence detection is available only in FaceTime video messages, not live calls. It isn’t available on Apple Vision Pro.
Requirements
Sensitive Content Warning requires iOS 17 or later, iPadOS 17 or later, watchOS 10 or later, macOS Sonoma or later, or visionOS 2 or later.
Gore and violence detection requires iOS 27 or later, iPadOS 27 or later, macOS 27 Golden Gate or later, watchOS 27 or later, or visionOS 27 or later.
For a complete set of protections, update your devices to the latest software version.
Turn on Sensitive Content Warning
In Settings (or System Settings on Mac), select Privacy & Security.
Scroll down and select Sensitive Content Warning.
Turn on Sensitive Content Warning.
When you turn on Sensitive Content Warning, it will be turned on automatically for all supported apps, but you can to manage access for each app. When you turn on Sensitive Content Warning on your iPhone, it’s also turned on for your paired Apple Watch.
What happens when sensitive content is detected
If Sensitive Content Warning detects that a photo or video appears to contain nudity or gore and violence, the content is blurred and a warning is displayed. From this alert, you have several options:
View: Select Show to view the content.
Block: Select the Alert button to find safety resources or block the person.
Report: If nudity is detected in an iMessage or FaceTime video call, you can also report the sender to Apple. When you report the sender to Apple, the sensitive content is sent to Apple for review. Apple may forward reports to the relevant authorities, including law enforcement, and take appropriate action on the sender's Apple Account. Additionally, Apple may follow up regarding your report.
About Communication Safety on your child’s Apple device
To help protect your child from viewing or sharing sensitive photos or videos, you can turn on Communication Safety so that your child's device detects photos and videos that may contain nudity or gore and violence.