Originally published at: Communication Safety Requires a Screen Time Password in Latest Systems - TidBITS
Apple has quietly tightened the requirements for how children under 13 in a Family Sharing group can bypass its on-device detection system for nudity in images and videos.
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Why does Apple get to set the cut-off age rather than parents? I’d wager most parents would be a better judge of their kid’s character and maturity than some tech mega corp.
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I suspect it is that 13 seems to be the cut-off age for a lot of the social media sites. It might even be mandated in legislation, but a quick search didn’t turn up anything that might have been enacted (lots of bills out there, but not finding laws).
For some families, older might be better option.
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Different countries have laws that set certain ages for various responsibilities. As I recall, some of Apple’s child-related features/settings end for 16+ in the European Union, too.
No solutions, but several comments:
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Parents should be able to pick any age for these kinds of cutoffs. If I want to restrict my adult children, I should be able to do so as long as I’m the owner of their phones. Apple has no way (and should not be allowed to have a way) to know what my children are or are not mature enough to handle.
It’s the “you’ll obey my rules as long as you live in my home” principle. If someone doesn’t want to be subject to the controls I impose, they can buy their own phone. And if they can’t afford their own, well, that’s just tough.
(No, I don’t have any controls configured for my adult child’s phone, which I’m paying for, but I should have the right and ability to do so.)
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These controls are valuable to more than just parents. If I’m an employer and I’m issuing phones to my staff, why shouldn’t I be able to enable this for the phones I’m paying for?
If it’s not already present, Apple should provide a variation on this feature for all MDM-managed phones, regardless of the age of the user. (But maybe change the prompt from “Message A Grown-Up” to “Contact IT”)
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All reasonable, but Apple doesn’t seem to take requests these days! You might file some feedback—who knows what could happen?
That is a very wacky to me. I can understand it from a principle standpoint, but not a “my adult children must consider nudity” standpoint. That’s personal autonomy. Sure, you don’t have to pay for it, but I would find it truly peculiar if Apple ever offered such a thing.
As I wrote, I am not interested in doing this, but there are quite a lot people who have a personal morality that they would not want to permit nudity in their household at all. If you choose to install a “net nanny” app on your router to block porn from your LAN, the manufacturer doesn’t (I assume) force you to disable it for adult users. It’s up to you, as the owner to decide what its scope should be. This is really no different.
If there is filtering, I should be able to activate it on any phone that I manage, including my own - because I may be someone who would be offended to receive something like this.
It’s not Apple’s role to enforce morality, but that cuts both ways. They shouldn’t force me to filter anything. But if they offer filtering, I should be able to enable it on any device I manage, without regard to the age of the person using it.
This doesn’t really conform to that—Apple chose to carve out a particular area.
@glennf Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding with Communication Safety is that parents can turn it off for children entirely, which provides some flexibility for those who want less oversight. Those who want more oversight will have to look elsewhere.
Yes, that’s the only configuration option. It’s enabled by default. I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but it’s in the article!
Starting with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 13 Sonoma, and watchOS 10, Communication Safety is enabled by default for all Family Sharing accounts for people under 17. The Family Sharing Owner or an account set as Parent/Guardian can toggle the setting in iOS and iPadOS in Settings > Family > Child Name > Screen Time > Communication Safety or in macOS via System Settings > Screen Time > Family Member > Child Name > Communication Safety.
In the USA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) limits online marketing and data collection aimed at children under the age of 13. It also adds some data privacy and protection requirements.
After COPPA was established, many companies and organizations have converged on 13 years of age as the minimum age for various permissions and transactions to simplify policies and compliance programs, even when not specifically required by COPPA in the USA or similar laws in other jurisdictions.
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I understand completely, but I don’t understand why Apple can’t provide additional control. Since the feature is present anyway, it should be trivially simple to support other criteria for when it should be on or off.
Yes, I knew that, but wanted you to confirm that I was understanding the level of configuration correctly. 
I confirm you were understanding it!
Yeah, it’s weird because in releases before the Sept. 2023 ones, Apple didn’t check the box. Now they do. So they imposed a level of oversight that people might want to choose for themselves.
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