Overview
- This week Apple published a support document and seeded iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS 27.3 developer betas that begin checking items shared with the “Anyone with the link” option for harmful content.
- The scanning applies only to content made reachable by a public link and does not affect items shared with “People you choose,” shared albums, or ordinary iCloud uploads.
- Apple says items shared via public links are no longer end-to-end encrypted even if a user has Advanced Data Protection enabled, allowing Apple to read those files for content checks.
- If Apple flags a link as harmful it can move, modify, refuse, remove, or delete the content and may disable or block Apple Accounts or involve law enforcement in serious cases.
- Key details remain unspecified, including what Apple means by “harmful content,” whether checks apply to links created before 27.3, and which countries will receive the feature first, and the change revives long‑running debates over scanning, privacy, and safety policy.