iPhone Communication Safety Feature Expanding To More Countries

Apple has highlighted the company's software features and tools designed to protect children online, such as Communication Safety and Screen Time.

Our goal is to provide people with technology that not only improves and enriches their lives, but also helps them stay safe online, the company said.

To mark Safer Internet Day, Apple has highlighted the company's software features and tools designed to protect children online, such as Communication Safety and Screen Time. The feature for the Messages application provides warnings and resources on a child's device if they receive or try to send photos containing nudity, the tech giant announced in a blog post on Tuesday.

Messages application detects and blurs the image and offers age-appropriate guidance, by using on-device machine learning (ML).

"At Apple, our goal is to provide people with technology that not only improves and enriches their lives, but also helps them stay safe online," said Erik Neuenschwander, Director of User Privacy, Apple.

"We're proud to be an official supporter of Safer Internet Day in Europe-- and we'll keep innovating every day to empower people to protect their families online." he added.

The iPhone maker is also sharing free educational sessions online and in Apple Store locations, to help "parents, guardians, teachers and child safety advocates get the most out of the family-friendly safety tools across Apple devices". On the App Store, Apple will highlight applications that create even more ways to encourage child safety, privacy and parental controls.

"Apple is also offering a tailored session for members of the Apple Education Community-- a professional learning hub designed for educators who use Apple technology. The course will provide useful insights into how teachers can protect and educate children on internet safety," Apple added.

Meanwhile, amid Big Tech companies like Amazon, Meta and Microsoft announcing job cuts running into thousands, Apple is yet to do so and may not plan to terminate employees.

According to Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives, Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has taken a hefty salary cut by more than 40 per cent in 2023, didn't overhire during the pandemic, says a recent report by Yahoo Finance.

Apple's employee count went up by about 7 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021. Cook has already taken a huge pay cut of $35 million, or more than 40 per cent of his compensation.