Hasta La Gadget!

For a few years now, it’s been hard to pin down the strategy behind Samsung’s Fan Edition products. Ostensibly, they’re supposed to offer high-end features at a more affordable price. However, following the Galaxy S20 FE, most FE devices haven’t lived up to that promise. Whether it was the poor timing of the S21 FE or the boring hardware of the S23 FE, those phones never felt like the absolute steal the S20 FE was four years ago. 

With the new Galaxy S24 FE ($650), Samsung is offering its cheapest entry into its Galaxy AI ecosystem. Unfortunately, a few hardware changes and a lot of AI aren’t enough to overcome an uncompetitive price.

Design and display

When I first took the S24 FE out of the box, I thought Samsung had left the design of the phone untouched. It turns out I was only half right. The new model features a display that is 0.3 inches larger than the S23 FE’s 6.4-inch one. In terms of size, that means the S24 FE is a much closer match to the S24+ than the S23 FE was to the S23+. I want you to keep the S24+ top of mind as you read through this review; The S24 FE is the phone Samsung wants you to consider if everything about the S24+ is appealing to you other than its $1,000 price.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Like with the S23 FE, Samsung chose an AMOLED 2X panel that has an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and 1080p resolution. In addition to being bigger, the S24 FE’s screen is brighter than the one on last year’s FE, offering close to 1,900 nits of peak brightness compared to 1,450 nits. The S24 FE is still missing the battery-saving LTPO tech found on Samsung’s flagship phones, but as far as screens on midrange phones go, the S24 FE easily has one of the best I’ve seen. I also think it’s the reason to buy the FE.

The display looks great, especially when scrolling through social media and playing games. It’s also easily legible in bright sunlight. Likewise, I found it was plenty sharp, despite having a lower resolution than the QHD screen on the S24+. It’s nice Samsung offers such a large display on a midrange device, but I’m not a fan of big phones. Obviously, personal preference will dictate if the FE’s girth is your thing, but those with smaller hands like me, consider this your warning: it’s not an easy phone to hold.

In North America, the S24 FE is available in four colors: blue (pictured), graphite, gray and a lovely mint. It might not be made of titanium, but I think the FE looks just as premium as its more expensive siblings. I also wouldn’t worry about its durability too much; the front and back of the phone are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, and the entire phone is IP68-certified against dust and water.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Cameras

I’ll be honest, I did not expect to like the S24 FE’s camera as much as I did. The new phone offers the same hardware as its predecessor. Specifically, it comes with a 50-megapixel, f/1.8 main camera; a 12MP, f/2.2 ultra-wide camera; an 8MP, f/2.4 telephoto camera and a 10MP selfie camera with f/2.4 lens.

The one addition here is the company’s ProVisual engine. It’s the first time Samsung has offered the software on one of its FE phones. Having not used last year’s model, I wasn’t able to directly compare the two devices.

So I did the next best thing: I compared the photos I snapped with the S24 FE to those I took with the last Samsung phone I reviewed, the Galaxy A53 5G. If I had to pinpoint a difference, it’s that the S24 FE did a better job of consistently nailing white balance and properly exposing dark scenes.

At the same time, Samsung’s image processing hasn’t dramatically changed over the last couple of years. There’s no mistaking the photos from the S24 FE came from a Samsung device. As you can see from the gallery below, nearly every image features bright and saturated colors.

Even as someone who’s not a fan of Samsung’s image processing, I had a lot of fun using the FE’s cameras. Of the three main ones, my favorite was the telephoto. Thanks to its 32-degree field of view, it gives you a 3x optical zoom over the FE’s main camera. That might not seem like much, but when most midrange phones, including the excellent Pixel 8a, don’t come with a telephoto camera, any bit of optical zoom makes it feel like you’re using a more premium product.

In the case of the FE, it’s a quality camera too, with a bright f/2.4 lens and built-in optical image stabilization. I’m usually not a fan of portrait modes on more affordable handsets like the S24 FE, but here I found it made sense since the compression from the telephoto lens leads to better subject separation. I ended up snapping a lot of portraits because the phone did a great job of rendering natural-looking skin tones and background blur.

The main camera is less of a standout. Thanks to that 50MP sensor, it can produce the most detailed images of the S24 FE’s cameras, but the autofocus wasn’t as fast as I would have liked. When I tried to get a closeup of something, such as my cat Celine, the camera took a few seconds to lock focus. However, outside of that, the S24 FE can take stunning photos. It’s no slouch in low light, either.

As for the 12MP ultra-wide, it was my least favorite of the FE’s cameras. Samsung’s image processing doesn’t do a great job of correcting for the fish-eye distortion produced by such a wide lens, so buildings and anything else captured in the periphery of the frame look misshapen. Photos look fine when zoomed out, but begin to look worse as soon as you start pixel-peeping. Part of the problem here is that Samsung didn’t update the ultra-wide camera to add autofocus, so not every shot comes out as sharp as it could be, despite the sensor offering a decent amount of resolution.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Speaking of autofocus, the selfie camera is missing that feature as well. It’s a shame because the FE has one of the better front-facing cameras I’ve used recently. It offers enough resolution to make selfies look detailed but not so much that every pore and blemish is rendered in painful detail. At the same time, the company seems to have toned down the overly aggressive skin smoothing it was known for in years past.

I mentioned the Pixel 8a earlier, and I think it’s worth returning to it for a moment. When my coworker Sam Rutherford pitted Google’s midrange handset against the Galaxy S24 Ultra, he found the two were surprisingly comparable when it came to camera performance. Despite costing $800 less, the Pixel 8a frequently produced photos with more accurate colors and superior detail. The S24 FE’s cameras perform a shade worse than their counterparts on the S24+. Unless you value the inclusion of a telephoto lens as much as I do, there’s a case to be made that the S24 FE doesn’t offer enough of an upgrade to warrant spending $650.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Performance

Thankfully, the S24 FE is not all small tweaks. Internally, the phone features Samsung’s new Exynos 2400e chipset. It’s the one processor the company is using for both US and international variants. I can already hear some of you groaning since Exynos chips have been known in the past for both poor performance and efficiency relative to their Qualcomm counterparts, so let me get straight to the good news: The 2400e is a powerhouse.

When I put the S24 FE through Geekbench 6, the chip delivered a single-core score of 2,140 and a multi-core performance of 6,690. To put those numbers in perspective, when my co-worker Sam did the same with the S24+ earlier this year, its flagship Snapdragon Gen 3 SoC performed better but not significantly so, posting scores of 2,284 and 7,003, respectively.

The Exynos 2400e was equally impressive in real-world use. Even though the FE only has 8GB of RAM at its disposal, I didn’t experience any hiccups scrolling through websites, switching between apps and other daily tasks. When it came to gaming, I could play Diablo Immortal with the game’s 60 fps mode enabled and graphics settings pushed to their max. I didn’t experience any hitching or dropped frames. I’ll mention here that Samsung redesigned the FE’s vapor chamber to make it bigger and thereby improve cooling. In my experience, the phone gets warm — but not hot — running graphically intensive games.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Battery

As I mentioned at the top, this year’s FE is bigger than its predecessor. Samsung has wisely used the extra space to include a larger 4,700mAh battery. Disappointingly, the company only made a minor change to the FE’s charging capabilities. Thanks to Qi2 support, wireless charging now tops off at 15W, up from 10W on the S23 FE. As for wired power delivery, the FE is still limited to 25W.

During one test, I left home at 8AM with the FE’s battery at 87 percent. For the next three hours, I used the phone to track a bike ride on Strava and snap photos along the way. When I got home, the battery was at 67 percent. I then went out for lunch with my partner, snapping plenty of photos along the way, and using the FE to surf the web and check social media. I later played an hour of Diablo Immortal for a total of three hours of screen time that day. Before bed, I had about 40 percent battery left. Samsung says the S24 FE can power long gaming sessions, and judging by what I saw, that’s accurate.

Charging the FE is far from an ideal experience. In my testing, it was possible to get the battery from zero to 50 percent in about 30 minutes. That’s in line with Samsung’s claims. However, charging to full takes substantially longer. It took close to 70 minutes to get a dead battery to 100 percent. Of course, this is assuming you own a compatible 25W fast charger. Did I mention Samsung doesn’t include a power adapter in the box? Yes, you’ll need your own. Otherwise, expect glacial charging speeds.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Software

I’ve spent a lot of words on the S24 FE’s hardware, but for Samsung, that’s not the story of this phone. The company wants you to see the new FE as a more affordable way to access its Galaxy AI tools. I won’t bore you with a review of the entire suite since Engadget has already covered what’s included.

What I will say is that all of the S24 FE’s AI features work well, but none of them are reasons I would go out and buy this phone for myself. Take Circle to Search, for instance. By long pressing the FE’s home button, you can bring up Google anywhere, including while scrolling through photos on Instagram and your camera roll. It’s then possible to search for a specific object by drawing a circle around it. So, the next time you spot a cute floof, you can confirm it was a Samoyed without leaving Google Photos. No need to switch between apps or try to figure out how to describe what you saw to Google.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Circle to Search is useful, but I could also live without it. And I can safely say the same for all of Samsung’s own AI features. For example, Transcript Assist was handy for turning voice memos into written notes, but it didn’t save me much time in the long run since I ended up editing most of what the software produced. I also don’t want to subject my friends to AI-generated texts courtesy of Chat Assist.

Most importantly, I can’t see myself paying for any of the FE’s AI features once they’re no longer free. In case you forgot, Samsung plans to monetize Galaxy AI. “Fees may apply to certain AI features at the end of 2025,” the company said in the press release announcing the S24 FE. If you’re in the market for a midrange device, the prospect of paying a subscription to use some of its features feels like a non-starter. I don’t know about you, but if I’m buying a budget phone, I want it to save me over the long run, not cost me more after a year or two.

Igor Bonifacic for Engadget

Wrap-up

In a vacuum, the Galaxy S24 FE is a great all-around phone and would be an easy recommendation if the S24+ didn’t exist or had Samsung released the two devices at the same time. At $650 for the base 128GB model and $710 for 256GB, the FE isn’t substantially cheaper than the S24+, especially when you consider the Plus comes with 256GB of storage by default and has already been reduced by as much as $150 off in recent months. If you want a discount S24+, you’re better off just waiting for that phone to go on sale.

The S24 FE is in an even weirder spot compared to the best midrange phones you can buy right now. Yes, it has a larger screen and an extra camera over our current top pick, the $499 Pixel 8a. However, for most people, I don’t think those upgrades warrant spending an extra $150. If you’re looking to get the most phone for as little money as possible, the S24 FE is not it.

I’m sure Samsung will adjust the price before long, but for now, this Fan Edition device doesn’t have a clear audience.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s24-fe-review-a-great-phone-but-i-wish-it-was-cheaper-190032655.html?src=rss

If you want to back up valuable data from your PC, transfer videos to a Mac or offload a few games from your game console, a good external SSD can help. These tiny bricks may cost more than a traditional portable hard drive, but they’re noticeably faster, smaller and far more reliable in the long term. That said, determining the best external SSD for you isn’t as simple as picking the one that’s priced the lowest or packs the most space. (At least, it shouldn’t be.) If you’re looking to add some portable storage to your desktop or everyday carry, we’ve spent months weeding through the external solid-state drive market, testing several contenders and sorting out which ones deliver the most value. You can find our favorites, plus a quick rundown of what to know before buying one of these things, below.

Table of contents

• Best external SSDs for 2024

• Other external SSDs we tested

• What to consider before buying an external SSD

• How we test external SSDs

• Recent updates

Best external SSDs for 2024

Other external SSDs we tested

The pre-built OWC Express 1M2 is a premium-feeling USB4 SSD that’s roughly as fast as the ADATA SE920, but it’s larger and significantly more expensive as of this writing.

If you’re in the relatively small group with a PC that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 but not Thunderbolt or USB4, the Crucial X10 Pro is essentially a faster version of our top pick. The Lexar SL600 is a larger but slightly quicker option, while the Lexar SL500, Kingston XS2000 or Samsung T9 could also work if you see them on discount. As a reminder, though, drives like these are aimed primarily at content creators and other professionals, and you have to make sure you won’t upgrade to a device with a faster USB interface anytime soon.

The Samsung T7 Shield has a conveniently rugged design with a rubberized, IP65-rated shell. It also comes with both USB-C and USB-A cables. But it was consistently slower than the X9 Pro and XS1000 in our benchmark tests, plus it has a shorter three-year warranty.

The Silicon Power PX10 is an especially affordable USB 3.2 Gen 2 model. Its peak speeds weren’t too far off the X9 Pro or XS1000 in synthetic benchmarks, but it can get distractingly hot and its sustained writes are markedly worse. It took 50 seconds longer to move our 70GB custom test folder to this drive compared to the X9 Pro, for example.

The Crucial X6 is another low-cost option that’s a good bit slower than our top picks. It’s limited to a three-year warranty and lacks an IP rating as well. It’s not a terrible option for the basics, but there’s little reason to get it over the XS1000 when their prices are similar.

The OWC Envoy Pro FX is well-built and supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 Gen 2, but it’s a smidge slower than the SE920 and Express 1M2, and it’s much pricier than the former.

Samsung

What to consider before buying an external SSD

Capacity

The first thing to figure out before buying a portable SSD is just how much storage space you need. Most of the drives we considered for this guide are available in capacities ranging from one to four terabytes, though plenty of smaller and larger options exist.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule for which size is “best” — that’ll ultimately depend on your budget and what exactly you’re looking to stash. But in general, it’s better to overcompensate than underdo it. Nobody wants to be forced into buying a second drive because they filled the first one up too quickly. If you’re backing up a PC, a good rule of thumb is to buy an external SSD with twice as much space as your computer’s internal storage. This way, you can save at least one full backup while also having room for additional data. If you want to store a bunch of PlayStation or Xbox games with huge install sizes, you may need more space. If you just want to back up a small collection of files, you may be better off saving your cash and just getting a smaller USB flash drive instead, which aren’t quite the same as the external SSDs we tested for this guide.

Price

In general, you get a better price-per-gigabyte ratio the further you go up the capacity ladder. As of this writing, the 1TB Samsung T9 is priced at $135, or $0.14 per gigabyte (GB), while the 4TB version is available for $350, or $0.09 per GB. That technically makes the larger model a better “value,” but not everyone needs to pay that much more upfront.

SSDs in the same speed class tend to not vary too wildly in terms of performance, so part of our decision-making for this guide came down to which ones are often the cheapest. But prices can fluctuate over time; if you see that one of our top picks is priced way higher than a comparable honorable mention, feel free to get the latter. At this point in time, costs are broadly trending upwards.

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Speed and USB interface

Just about all external SSDs are significantly faster than mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs), so you’ll save time waiting for files to transfer and games to load no matter what. Within the market, however, there are distinct performance tiers. These are defined in large part by the USB interface a drive supports. While all of the SSDs we considered for this guide can connect over USB-C, some USB-C connections can supply faster transfer speeds than others. Sorting through this can get real confusing real fast, so we’ll try to put it in simple terms.

Essentially, you can divide today’s crop of portable SSDs into five segments. At the top are drives that utilize Thunderbolt 3 or 4 or the more recent USB4 spec, which have a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 40 gigabits per second (Gbps). Note that USB4 comes in two different variants, though, one of which is limited to 20 Gbps. Below that is USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which also tops out at 20 Gbps. (Getting confused yet?) Then you have USB 3.2 Gen 2, which maxes at 10 Gbps. Next is USB 3.2 Gen 1, which is capped at 5 Gbps. Lastly, we’ll bundle together SSDs that use older standards and aren’t worth considering here.

For everyday folks, a good USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive is the sweet spot between fast enough performance and a cheap enough price, so those make up our chief recommendations below. If you work in a creative field or don’t mind paying extra to shave seconds off your large file transfers, though, a “higher-tier” model would make sense. However, note that systems that utilize USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 aren’t super common — no Mac supports it, for one — and the interface is effectively being replaced by USB4.

In general, your chain is only as strong as its weakest link: If your computer only has USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, for example, you could still use a Thunderbolt SSD, but you won’t get beyond Gen 2 speeds. Make sure you know what you’re working with before you buy.

As a refresher, storage devices are broadly measured in terms of read and write speeds. The former refers to how long it takes to access something from the drive; the latter, how long it takes to save something to it. From there, you can break these metrics into sequential and random performance. Sequential speeds tend to matter more with portable SSDs, since most people use them to save or access long, constant streams of data such as a bunch of high-res photos. Random speeds would be important if you want to run video games off the drive, since that’d involve reading and writing smaller, more scattered files. Either way, how well an SSD can sustain its performance with extended use is also critical.

Other performance factors and enclosures

A modern portable SSD’s speeds aren’t just about its USB interface, though. Its performance can also depend on how advanced its controller is, whether it has a native USB flash controller or a separate bridge chip to communicate with a host device, the kind and quality of NAND flash memory it uses, whether it has a DRAM cache or it’s DRAM-less, and more.

We’re simplifying things, but here are some quick tips: Drives with triple-level cell (TLC) memory aren’t as cheap as quad-level cell (QLC) SSDs, but they’re generally more reliable and they offer better write performance. Having a dedicated DRAM cache helps if you plan to hit your drive with more intense, sustained workloads, but may not be worth the extra cost for most people. Some models with native flash controllers may not perform as well as those with a bridging chip, depending on the SSD inside, but they typically draw less heat and are physically smaller. All of this is to say that an external SSD’s speeds aren’t quite as straightforward as what the manufacturer chooses to advertise on the box.

It’s also worth remembering that you can turn an internal SSD into a portable solution with a good enclosure. If you have a spare drive and don’t mind going the DIY route, this can be a cheaper and more flexible solution, though we’ve stuck to pre-built models for this guide for the sake of simplicity.

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Size, durability, endurance and warranty

Most portable SSDs are impressively small and light, so they won’t be difficult to tuck in a bag (or even a pocket) and take on the go. We note below if any drive is bulkier than usual.

Nothing we’re talking about matters if your drive can’t last in the long term. It’s hard to definitively say which external SSDs are the most reliable, but we scoured through user reviews and feedback while researching this guide to ensure none of our picks show a pattern of catastrophic errors. If there was too much smoke around a particular model, we steered clear. We ruled out certain drives from SanDisk and Western Digital, for instance, after reports from Ars Technica and The Verge noted an issue that led to data loss (and lawsuits) in 2023.

That said, one of the big reasons you’d buy an SSD in general is its superior durability. Because it has no moving mechanical parts inside, an SSD has far fewer avenues to failure than an external hard drive. You still don’t want to be careless with them, but an accidental drop shouldn’t be the end of the world.

Some portable SSDs build on this inherent ruggedness with plastic or rubberized casings and more robust waterproofing. These aren’t necessary for everyone, but if you’re a frequent traveler or someone who often works outdoors, there are options for you.

Still, all drives can fail. If you have any sort of data you’d be distraught to lose, you should back it up regularly, then make a second backup, ideally with a cloud service. Along those protective lines, we also took note of the warranty policy for each drive we tested. Just about all of them are backed for either three or five years; of course, longer is better.

Encryption and software

It’s not uncommon to store sensitive data on a portable SSD, so some models offer extra security features like hardware-based encryption — i.e., direct scrambling of data stored on the drive itself — built-in keypads and fingerprint readers to protect against unauthorized access if the drive is lost or stolen. While not top requirements, perks like these are certainly good to have. Some SSDs also come with companion software to further manage the drive. The best of those can be handy to have around, but we wouldn’t call them essential.

How we test external SSDs

Unfortunately, we did not have access to a device that can make full use of USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 and Thunderbolt 4/USB4 speeds interchangeably, so we had to split our testing across multiple devices, including an M1 Pro MacBook Pro and an Alienware gaming PC running Windows 11. Because of this, we primarily compared the portable SSDs within each “class” against one another. Before switching OSes, we reformatted each drive to each platform’s standard file system format: APFS for macOS and NTFS for Windows.

After researching which SSDs had enough positive feedback to be worth testing in the first place, we put 13 drives through a range of synthetic and “real-world” benchmark tests. On Windows, these included CrystalDiskMark, PCMark 10’s Data Drive Benchmark and 3DMark’s gaming-focused Storage Benchmark. On macOS, we used AmorphousDiskMark (effectively a Mac version of CrystalDiskMark), BlackMagic Disk Speed Test and ATTO Disk Benchmark.

We also timed how long it took for each drive to read and write a custom 70GB folder filled with roughly 11,500 different files, including photos, videos, music files, PDFs and other large and small data types scattered across numerous subfolders. We performed multiple passes for each test to avoid irregularities, and we kept track of each SSD’s heat levels over the course of the whole suite. Our process wasn’t a perfect science, but it gave us a general sense of how each drive compares to other models in its price and performance range.

Recent updates

October 2024: We’ve taken a sweep through this guide to ensure all pricing and availability info is still correct. Our recommendations are unchanged.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-portable-ssd-120043652.html?src=rss

Playtonic Games’ ode to the 3D platformers of the ‘90s is coming to modern consoles. Yooka-Laylee is getting a remastered version called Yooka-Re-playee for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and “Nintendo platforms,” according to the press release. It’s possible the plural use of platform refers to the current-gen Nintendo Switch and Nintendo’s next console.

Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor of sorts to 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie and Spyro the Dragon. In fact, some of the people who worked on the original Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country helped bring Yooka-Laylee to life.

Playtonic funded the development of its launch title’s with a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 that raised more than £2 million. The game came out two years later for consoles, PC and Mac. Then in 2017, Playtonic Games released a sequel called Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.

The remastered version comes with updated graphics, new enemies to pounce on and revised controls and camera views. The original score penned by Banjo-Kazooie’s Grant Kirkhope and Donkey Kong Country’s David Wise is also getting an update from a full orchestra.

Yooka-Laylee plays like an updated Banjo-Kazooie in a new, colorful, open world to explore. The titular duo are a chameleon and a bat fighting a ruthless CEO named Capital B who attempts to steal all the books in the world with a giant vacuum. Yooka and Laylee head to a world called Hivory Towers to stop Capital B from finding the “Pagies” of the One Book that can rewrite the universe.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/yooka-laylee-remaster-rolling-to-all-consoles-including-nintendos-next-system-192541702.html?src=rss

Bluesky has revealed how it plans to start making money without necessarily having to rely on ads. The platform will remain free to use for everyone, though it’s working on a premium subscription that will provide access to profile customization tools (remember when Myspace offered that for free?) and higher quality video uploads.

One thing that you won’t get as a paid user, though, is any preferential treatment. Unlike certain other social platforms, Bluesky won’t boost the visibility of premium members’ posts. Nor will they get any kind of blue check, according to chief operating officer Rose Wang.

In addition, Bluesky is planning a tip jar of sorts for creators. “We’re proud of our vibrant community of creators, including artists, writers, developers and more, and we want to establish a voluntary monetization path for them as well,” it said in a blog post. “Part of our plan includes building payment services for people to support their favorite creators and projects.” Bluesky will reveal more details down the line, though it’s not clear whether the platform plans to take a cut of any such payments.

Bluesky revealed its initial monetization plans in an announcement of its Series A funding round. It has raised $15 million from investors. Even though the lead investor in this round is Web3 VC company Blockchain Capital, Bluesky “will not hyperfinancialize the social experience (through tokens, crypto trading, NFTs, etc).”

“Bluesky is powered by a 20-person core team, moderators, and support agents,” Wang wrote on Bluesky. “Our biggest costs are team and infrastructure. Subscription revenue helps us improve the app, grow the developer ecosystem and gives us time to explore business models beyond traditional ads.”

The platform now has more than 13 million users, with many of those defecting from X following that service’s temporary ban in Brazil. (Analysts at Appfigures estimate that 3.6 million Bluesky app downloads came from Brazil, around 36 percent of the total figure.) Others made the switch after X made certain changes to its platform, including a revamp of how the block function operates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-upcoming-premium-plan-wont-give-paid-users-special-treatment-193800247.html?src=rss

In iOS 18.2, Apple is adding a new feature that resurrects some of the intent behind its halted CSAM scanning plans — this time, without breaking end-to-end encryption or providing government backdoors. Rolling out first in Australia, the company’s expansion of its Communication Safety feature uses on-device machine learning to detect and blur nude content, adding warnings and requiring confirmation before users can proceed. If the child is under 13, they can’t continue without entering the device’s Screen Time passcode.

If the device’s onboard machine learning detects nude content, the feature automatically blurs the photo or video, displays a warning that the content may be sensitive and offers ways to get help. The choices include leaving the conversation or group thread, blocking the person and accessing online safety resources.

The feature also displays a message that reassures the child that it’s okay not to view the content or leave the chat. There’s also an option to message a parent or guardian. If the child is 13 or older, they can still confirm they want to continue after receiving those warnings — with a repeat of the reminders that it’s okay to opt out and that further help is available. According to The Guardian, it also includes an option to report the images and videos to Apple.

Apple

The feature analyzes photos and videos on iPhone and iPad in Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters (in the Phone or Contacts app) and FaceTime video messages. In addition, it will scan “some third-party apps” if the child selects a photo or video to share with them.

The supported apps vary slightly on other devices. On Mac, it scans messages and some third-party apps if users choose content to share through them. On the Apple Watch, it covers Messages, Contact Posters and FaceTime video messages. Finally, on Vision Pro, the feature scans Messages, AirDrop and some third-party apps (under the same conditions mentioned above).

The feature requires iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia or visionOS 2.

The Guardian reports that Apple plans to expand it globally after the Australia trial. The company likely chose the land Down Under for a specific reason: The country is set to roll out new regulations that require Big Tech to police child abuse and terror content. As part of the new rules, Australia agreed to add the clause that it was only mandated “where technically feasible,” omitting a requirement to break end-to-end encryption and compromise security. Companies will need to comply by the end of the year.

User privacy and security were at the heart of the controversy over Apple’s infamous attempt to police CSAM. In 2021, it prepared to adopt a system that would scan for images of online sexual abuse, which would then be sent to human reviewers. (It came as something of a shock after Apple’s history of standing up to the FBI over its attempts to unlock an iPhone belonging to a terrorist.) Privacy and security experts argued that the feature would open a backdoor for authoritarian regimes to spy on their citizens in situations without any exploitative material. The following year, Apple abandoned the feature, leading (indirectly) to the more balanced child-safety feature announced today.

Once it rolls out globally, you can activate the feature under Settings > Screen Time > Communication Safety, and toggle the option on. That section has been activated by default since iOS 17.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/ios-182-has-a-child-safety-feature-that-can-blur-nude-content-and-report-it-to-apple-194614810.html?src=rss