iOS 15.5 beta blocks memories of photos taken in “sensitive” locations

Apple has just made a new adjustment that has been discovered in the beta of iOS 15.5 and that can bring controversy. Turns out we’ve taken a photo on a site that Apple deems “viewer sensitive,” and will block it from appearing in the native Photos app’s “memories” section.

The controversy will come first, because once again, Apple decides for us, without being able to change the criteria, to choose whether we want the application to discriminate or not. And the second, that it is the company that chooses the locations, according to its criteria.

This week the third beta of iOS 15.5 has been released for developers. This new update incorporates a novelty that will bring a queue, without a doubt. Manzana will block photos that are taken in “very sensitive places for users” and will not show them in the “memories” section of the photos application.

Memories is a feature of the Photos app on iOS and macOS that recognizes the people, places, and events in your photo library to automatically create curated collections with a slideshow. Since this feature is entirely based on machine learning, Apple has made some changes to the app’s algorithm to avoid creating some memories of “unwanted” places.

It has been seen that in iOS 15.5 beta 3 code, the Photos app now has a list of sensitive locations for the user, so any photos taken in those geolocated locations will never show up in the “memories” section. Interestingly, all the forbidden places in this version are related to the Holocaust of the Second World War.

A list with a single subject: the Nazi holocaust

Here is the list of places that are blocked in the Photos app’s Memories feature with iOS 15.5 beta 3:

• Yad Vashem Memorial
• Dachau concentration camp
• US Holocaust Museum
• Majdanek concentration camp
• Berlin Holocaust Memorial
• Schindler’s Factory
• Belzec extermination camp
• Anne Frank House
• Sobibor extermination camp
• Treblinka extermination camp
• Chelmno-Kulmhof extermination camp
• Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

Each location is assigned latitude, longitude, and radius, so the Photos app will ignore the images taken in these locations by creating new memories. Of course, Apple may update this list with new places with future iOS updates.

The controversy is served. First, because Apple does not let you choose if the user wants to avoid those locations or not. The company imposes it on you. And second, why only those locationsand not others that can be equally classified as “sensitive”, such as the location of the Twin Towers in New York, without going any further.