Apple will check photos and files shared from iCloud with the "Anyone with the link" setting for harmful content once devices run version 27.3 of iOS, iPadOS, macOS or visionOS. The company described the change in a support article dated Nov. 3, the same day the first 27.3 betas reached developers.
Items shared with specific people are a separate setting. Apple's article describes checks only for public links, the kind anyone holding the URL can open.
When someone shares an item stored in iCloud, such as a photo in iCloud Photos or a file in iCloud Drive, they can send a copy or share a link. A link can be limited to "People you choose," which Apple describes as only people the owner invites or approves, or opened to "Anyone with the link," which Apple says makes the item accessible to anyone who has the link, "including Apple."
From 27.3 on, Apple says, items shared the second way "will be checked by Apple for harmful content."
If Apple finds such content, it says it may move, refuse, modify, remove or delete it. It may also block or disable the person's Apple Account, stop them from opening a new account with the same email address or phone number, and, "if necessary," involve law enforcement. Apple's iCloud terms already let it screen or remove content that is illegal, "harmful to children" or otherwise objectionable, without prior notice.
What Apple has not said
The one-page notice leaves several questions open:
- What counts as harmful content. Apple gives no definition.
- How the checks work, whether by automated scanning, matching against known material or human review.
- Whether Notes, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Freeform or Shared Albums in Photos are covered. Apple names only iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive.
- Whether links created before 27.3 will be checked.
- Whether people are told when content is removed, or how to appeal.
Encryption and other ways to share
Public links lost end-to-end encryption before 27.3, too, despite some early coverage suggesting otherwise. Apple's iCloud security overview already says items shared with "anyone with the link" do not support Advanced Data Protection, because the encryption keys for the shared content go to Apple's data centers so the web link can work. The new notice repeats that and adds the content check.
Advanced Data Protection still covers end-to-end encrypted sharing in iCloud Shared Photo Library, shared iCloud Drive folders, shared Notes and Freeform collaboration, as long as everyone involved has it turned on, according to the same overview.
People who want to keep a shared item out of the new checks can use the other options Apple lists: share the link with "People you choose," which requires the recipient to be invited or approved, or use Send a Copy.
Version 27.3 is in beta testing now. Apple said in a Nov. 3 announcement about a different feature that the update will reach users as a free download "later this year." It has not given a release date.
