iOS 26's new safety feature is causing unexpected interruptions for adult users.
While the new iPhone software update has delivered major visual overhauls, such as the Liquid Glass design and updates to Messages, Wallet, and CarPlay, one feature has been the focus of recent Apple community discussions.
Hidden within the latest update is a FaceTime feature that most people won't have encountered unless they were in a rather intimate situation.
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Deep within iOS 26's beta version is a safety feature that automatically detects when someone starts undressing during a FaceTime call.
When the system's AI recognises nudity, it immediately freezes both video and audio.
As part of Apple's Communication Safety, the feature was designed with child protection in mind, keeping young users safe from inappropriate content. The feature expands to blurring out nudity in Shared Albums in Photos.
However, beta testers are discovering that this safeguard appears to be affecting adult users as well, as pointed out by iDeviceHelp on X.
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If nudity is detected, the warning reads: "Audio and video are paused because you may be showing something sensitive.
"If you feel uncomfortable, you should end the call."
Users are then given two options to either 'Resume Audio and Video' or 'End Call.'
Apple announced the feature to roll out in iOS 26 last month in an official blog post.
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However, it's unclear whether the feature affecting adult users is intentional or simply a bug in the beta version that's mistakenly applying child safety protocols to all accounts.
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As of yet, Apple hasn't confirmed or addressed the situation.
Despite the potentially intrusive nature of the feature, Apple has been clear about privacy protections built into the system.
They noted that the company 'never store[s] the content of FaceTime calls' in the cloud and it's not actually people doing the detecting rather on-device machine learning.
According to Apple's explanation of Communication Safety features: "Communication Safety uses on-device machine learning to analyze photo and video attachments and determine if a photo or video appears to contain nudity.
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"Because the photos and videos are analyzed on your child’s device, Apple doesn’t receive an indication that nudity was detected and doesn’t get access to the photos or videos as a result."
Over on Reddit, people have been cracking jokes and creatively reacting to the new feature.
"Well that's one way to end a work meeting early," one user joked.
"Tough times are coming for long-distance relationships," another pointed out.
"It's gonna be funny when that thing hits you, even though you're just holding your phone up to your face like normal," commented someone else.
A fourth user noted: "So, Apple uses algorithms that automatically detect and compare genitals. How nice of them."