Apple raised eyebrows with the recent announcement of a new feature in iOS 15 to scan photos on iCloud, and according to Apple, this AI-powered feature helps authorities eliminate child sexual abuse images. Which was rejected, so how do we allow a company to look at our private photos and scan them, so Apple responded and decided to postpone the introduction of this feature. But after this step from Apple, many decided to find an alternative to iCloud photos, and in this article we will tell you how to disable iCloud Photo Service and what are the available alternatives.
How will Apple scan and check your photos?
After a backlash over Apple's decision, the company clarified that only photos uploaded to its cloud storage service, iCloud, are subject to scanning. The feature is limited to users in the United States only, and may be expanded to other countries in the future.
According to Apple, the Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Detection Tool will scan and screen photos uploaded to iCloud by comparing them with CSAM photos from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
If a match is found, an Apple employee will manually check the photo to determine if it is, in fact, a child sexual abuse photo. Apple said that not all of the photos will be reviewed by its employees, and will focus only on the photos that are believed to match the photos in question through their algorithm.
Besides clearing the iCloud check, the feature will add additional parental controls over Messages, Siri, and Search. With Messages, parents can turn on a feature that alerts them when a potentially sexually explicit image is sent or received by their children.
How to disable the iCloud Photos feature
◉ Go to Settings, then click on your profile picture at the top, then click on iCloud and then Photos, then disable it. This will disable the automatic upload of your photos to your iCloud storage.
You may be asked if you want to download copies of your previously uploaded photos to your iCloud account. It will give you two options, “Remove from iPhone” and “Download photos and videos.”
The first option will remove the enhanced version of the photos and videos on your phone, but keep the originals in the cloud. The second option, your phone will download the original copies of the uploaded photos and use the storage on the device. Make sure that your iPhone has enough storage space before choosing the download option.
What are the alternatives to iCloud photos?
There are a lot of alternatives to iCloud that you can use such as:
Google Photos
You can download Google Photos from the Apple App Store for free. It allows you to safely back up your photos on Google's servers. Google Photos gives users 15GB of free storage space, which you can expand to 100, 200GB, or 2TB. It also offers a number of useful utilities for creating animations, collages, and movies along with powerful tools for sharing your photos with contacts and friends.
amazon photos
Amazon Photos: Photo & Video
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It gives users twice the iCloud storage for the same price. For comparison, 50 GB for iClouds for $0.99 per month, 100 GB for Amazon Photos for $11.99 per year. Unfortunately, unlike Google Photos, it does not offer a free tier unless you are an Amazon Prime member. You can also purchase prints of your photos through the Amazon website.
OneDrive from Microsoft
Microsoft OneDrive
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OneDrive is Microsoft's response to the growing demand for cloud storage. And with OneDrive, you have 5GB of free space. Although not as much as Google offers, it matches the free storage space you get from Apple. To use it, you need to download OneDrive from the App Store and sync it with your Microsoft account.
iDrive photos
iDrive Online Backup
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IDrive is a popular cloud storage solution that added a dedicated photo backup solution earlier this year. For $10 a year, IDrive Photos gives you unlimited full-resolution photo and video backups from your iPhone. If you are a photography buff, this is one of the unlimited storage options and one of the most affordable storage options available.
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