iOS 14 Privacy: Users Can Give Apps Access to Limited Selection of Photos

A new privacy feature in iOS 14 enables users to give an app access to a limited number of photos, instead of having to hand over the keys to their entire photo library.

The new app permissions feature was spotted in the iOS 14 beta by Benedict Evans, who shared a couple of screenshots of it in action.


When an app requests access to photos on a device, the user can now choose from three options: Select Photos…, Allow Access to All ‌Photos‌, or Don't Allow.

An iOS privacy awareness pane explains it like so:

Your photos and memories are personal. Apple's new privacy controls let you decide what photos and videos you share. When an app asks for permission to access your photo library, you have the choice to select specific items or allow access to all photos and videos.

The change is a nice improvement to the current binary option of either denying an app access to your photos or allowing it to get at your entire library of images. It should come in especially handy for when users want to give an app one-off access to a single photo, for example.

Apple has been keen to promote the new privacy features coming in iOS 14. Other iOS 14 privacy highlights covered at WWDC 2020 include the ability to give an app your approximate location instead of your precise location, App Store privacy lists for all apps, clipboard restrictions, and camera and microphone access attempt notifications.

Related Forum: iOS 14

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

Leaker Reveals Amount of RAM in iPhone 17 Through iPhone 17 Pro Max

Wednesday July 9, 2025 8:08 am PDT by
Three out of four iPhone 17 models will feature more RAM than the equivalent iPhone 16 models, according to a new leak that aligns with previous rumors. The all-new iPhone 17 Air, the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max will each be equipped with 12GB of RAM, according to Fixed Focus Digital, an account with more than two million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro to Reverse iPhone X Design Decision

Monday July 7, 2025 9:46 am PDT by
Since the iPhone X in 2017, all of Apple's highest-end iPhone models have featured either stainless steel or titanium frames, but it has now been rumored that this design decision will be coming to an end with the iPhone 17 Pro models later this year. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo today, the account Instant Digital said that the iPhone 17 Pro models will have an aluminum...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Foldable iPhone Display Production Begins Ahead of Launch Next Year

Wednesday July 9, 2025 10:59 pm PDT by
Production of foldable OLED displays for Apple's first foldable iPhone have begun ahead of its expected launch next year, Korea's ETNews reports. The first foldable iPhone's displays are being produced by Samsung Display, who are establishing a production line dedicated to the upcoming Apple device its A3 factory in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do. The production line will make displays exclusively...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...

Top Rated Comments

xpxp2002 Avatar
66 months ago

Also, there should be a way by now to allow specific apps to have “white to” priclidges to photos while also not allowing “read” access to the entire damn photo library.
Came here to say this. Write only access for apps that can save photos, but have no business looking at your other photos.

I suppose you could put a “dummy” photo in your library, set the app permission to only read that blank photo, and it’ll still be allowed to write new photos.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
audiophilosophy Avatar
66 months ago
Finally! Long overdue. Also, there should be a way by now to allow specific apps to have “write to” privileges to the stock Photos app while also not allowing “read” access to the entire damn photo library. For example, it annoys me that in order to let my eufy security cam app have the functionality to save recordings to Photos, I have to grant the app privileges to acces my whole Photos app library. The eufy app only needs “write to” privileges to my Photos! While watching all the improvements that Apple debuts the last few years to iOS, I can’t help but think that none of these new features should be new. They should have been correct right from the beginning, but they weren’t. Apple’s just patching stupidity they built into their products. There’s nothing innovative or revolutionary about that. And Tim Cook’s PR campaign that Apple cares more about your privacy really doesn’t hold up when the company, for many years, has granted 3rd party apps full (non-customizable) access to your entire Photos library. When I give Facebook messenger app access to my mic and camera, why can’t I set it to have access only when the app is open— and how is Apple assuring me that the app isn’t accessing the mic and camera while it’s running in the background? Because of things like this, I have stopped buying what Apple says about caring deeply about user privacy— it’s just a marketing angle that isn’t backed up with real actions that matter. I dumped all my shares of aapl Monday evening. The company is directionless and just trying to maintain where Steve Jobs left off.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D.T. Avatar
66 months ago

You mean this entire time, apps were able to view any photos in our library? My understanding of how the picker worked was that the photo library pop up was iOS and once you selected a photo, it uploaded that into the app. I even vaguely recall Steve on stage talking about it.
It's two discrete considerations: one is a picker that invokes the file / image browser, the other is app level access to the photos library (which you explicitly allow via the prompt / privacy for 3rd party apps).

So like Chrome on my iPad doesn't have specific photos access, yet I can still open photos to choose a pic to upload, but Twitter has read/write access, so technically it can add a photo, or read any photo from my entire library (which, come to think of it ... is creepy ... o_O ) So an app, without photos permission, can still do things like open a file picker to upload something like a profile photo, but it doesn't have any persistent access after that operation.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
urtules Avatar
66 months ago

So an app, without photos permission, can still do things like open a file picker to upload something like a profile photo
Sadly only few apps took advantage of the system picker, I blogged about this: "How iOS Developers Lie with Photo Permissions Dialog." ('https://cocoaswitch.com/2018/07/15/photo-picker/')
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
66 months ago
I wish iOS allowed a pin code to view the photos app. Also I wish photos saved from the web went into a special folder and not the camera roll.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JosephAW Avatar
66 months ago
Hopefully this also applies to the camera as well. Some of my apps require you to take a selfie before continuing to make sure its you. After I take the selfie I have to go in and disable camera access each time.

Been using the hidden folder to hide photos that contain ID and and account information. Now with this new feature I don't have to wonder if these apps are rifling thru my photos or even the thumbnails.

Would be neat to have an advanced audit feature where you could look at a log of all the photo/mic/location/data an app has viewed/copied to itself and when.

I disable a lot of apps cellular data to stop ads and phoning home, would be nice to also block WiFi access too.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)