IOS 17 May Blur NSFW Images on Your IPhone

NSFW messages may be acceptable depending on the time and place, but you don’t want them to show up unexpectedly on your iPhone. However, until now there was no way to properly block them while allowing other, innocent images sent via iMessage: nudity was treated the same as any other photo.

In iOS 17, you now have the option to blur out nudity and other NSFW content in the Messages app. As long as your phone can update to the new OS , you will be able to use this feature.

How your iPhone detects nudity in iMessage

The Sensitive Content Warning setting uses on-device machine learning to analyze the photos and videos you receive. Apple doesn’t have access to the media you receive; the entire process is done offline on your iPhone. Apple says it receives no indication that you are receiving NSFW content. This is a security feature that works without compromising your privacy.

How to Blur Nude on iPhone

After updating your iPhone to iOS 17, you can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Sensitive Content Warning and enable the feature. The sensitive content warning works across all Apple apps, such as Messages and FaceTime video messages , and is also included in AirDrop and the new Contact Posters feature in iOS 17.

Once you enable the sensitive content warning, all nude images you receive in these apps will be blurred by default. This will not prevent you from viewing these images if you choose: You can click the “Show” button on the blurred content to show the image or video. This way, you can choose when and where you want to view these images, or whether you want to delete them altogether without viewing them.