Apple's Messages Communication Safety Feature for Kids Expanding to the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

Apple is planning to expand its Communication Safety in Messages feature to the UK, according to The Guardian. Communication Safety in Messages was introduced in the iOS 15.2 update released in December, but the feature has been limited to the United States until now.

communication safety feature yellow
Communication Safety in Messages is designed to scan incoming and outgoing iMessage images on children's devices for nudity and warn them that such photos might be harmful. If nudity is detected in a photo that's received by a child, the photo will be blurred and the child will be provided with resources from child safety groups. Nudity in a photo sent by a child will trigger a warning encouraging the child not to send the image.

Communication Safety is opt-in, privacy-focused, and must be enabled by parents. It is limited to the accounts of children, with detection done on-device, and it is not related to the anti-CSAM functionality that Apple has in development and may release in the future.

We have a full guide on Communication Safety in Messages that walks through exactly how it works, where it's used, Apple's privacy features, and more.

Update: Communication Safety in Messages is also coming to Canada.

Update 2: The feature is also coming to Australia and New Zealand, according to The Verge.

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.

Popular Stories

apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Magenta and Blue

Apple TV+ Being Rebranded as Apple TV

Monday October 13, 2025 8:25 am PDT by
Buried in its announcement about "F1: The Movie" making its streaming debut on December 12, Apple has also announced that Apple TV+ is being rebranded as simply Apple TV. A single line near the end of the press release states "Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity," though Apple's website has yet to be updated with any changes, so we're unsure on the details of the...
M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
iOS 26

Apple Preparing iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones

Saturday October 11, 2025 6:59 pm PDT by
Apple's software engineers are internally testing iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will likely be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released within the next few weeks. Last month, Apple released iOS...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 18 Pro Already Rumored to Have These 6 New Features

Saturday October 11, 2025 10:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still nearly a year away, a handful of new features and changes have already been rumored for the devices. Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. Smaller Dynamic Island The standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18 Pro, and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with a slightly smaller Dynamic Island, but the devices will...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...

Top Rated Comments

fwmireault Avatar
46 months ago

and it is not related to the anti-CSAM functionality
Well, we all know how this thread will end up with the people who didn't read the multiple articles explaining the difference between CSAM and Communication Safety
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Expos of 1969 Avatar
46 months ago
Apple has no interest in releasing many services and features outside the US, but this...
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KrisLord Avatar
46 months ago
Pleased to see this come to the UK.

My daughter is 10 and so this comes at just the right time.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nortonandreev Avatar
46 months ago
Extremely disappointing.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jakewilk Avatar
46 months ago

At least they say this is on-device and nothing is sent to Apple. But still, there is one functionality that would render these things useless, and it is called "Parenting"
What an incredibly naïve thing to say
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
usagora Avatar
46 months ago

At least they say this is on-device and nothing is sent to Apple. But still, there is one functionality that would render these things useless, and it is called "Parenting"
Um, parenting can involve using technology like this to help protect your children from harmful content or behavior. Even children with outstanding parents are still children - curious, often immature, naive, and make mistakes. While this technology isn't foolproof, of course, it's still a great tool for parents to have at their disposal.

It's not an either-or thing.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)