Sharing an iCloud photo or file through a public link will come with a catch once iOS 27.3 arrives: Apple will be able to scan it. Items shared with the “Anyone with the link” setting get opened up to Apple for a harmful-content check, and Apple says they stop being end-to-end encrypted, Advanced Data Protection or not.
Besides the iPhone update, the same rule comes with the iPad, Mac and Vision Pro releases that carry the 27.3 number. Developers got the first betas this week, and a public release is planned for December.
The change turned up in an Apple support document that 9to5Mac found. It applies to files in iCloud Drive and pictures in iCloud Photos. A link limited to “People you choose” is outside the check, as is a file you send directly as a copy.
Apple leaves “harmful content” undefined. The Verge notes that protesters have been pressing Apple to act on child sexual abuse material in iCloud, and Apple’s reference to law enforcement fits that reading. Whether links made before the update will be scanned too is not answered on the page.
Apple’s wording on consequences is broad. It keeps the right to relocate, block, alter or erase anything it objects to. The uploader’s Apple Account can be restricted or switched off, the email address or phone number behind it can be barred from opening a new account, and police can be brought in when Apple thinks it necessary.
Files kept in your own iCloud storage or shared with people you name are not touched by this. It is the public link, the one many people use to pass around a long video or a folder of photos, that now comes with Apple’s inspection.
