This is really disconcerting. My 7 year old who has an apple watch for the sole purpose of emergency contacting me and her father just revealed she found the gif search feature for iMessaging. This should be an option to disable for children!! There is no limit to what they can find on here. Does anyone know how to disable? Epic fail keeping our children safe, Apple.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Apple Watch SE
If this issue bothers you, I recommend submitting feedback to Apple. Apple has an entire team dedicated to reviewing the feedback sent in, and properly escalates it to the right product team at Apple.
Submit Apple Watch Feedback ⇢ Feedback - Watch - Apple
Have you reviewed this previous discussion on the subject?
Disable gif texting on Apple Watch - Apple Community
It is fallacy to blame the parent if the children views questionable material or gets distracted at school. Children are curious and are naturally going to explore. Our responsibility as parents is to limit what they have access to, until they are ready. The OP is being a responsible parent by trying to accomplish this.
it is reasonable to expect that Apple would provide this feature since they are marketing the child safety features of their platform.
I looked around and didn’t find anything terrible, but there are thousands of images and it will be a huge temptation to kids in class and other times.
It is your responsibility to manage the content your child is viewing on any device.
However, I couldn't think of what would be inappropriate on the #images app within iMessage so I tried to look for something... and could not find anything that I would agree to be "not for children". The application is pretty heavily filtered in its current state in my opinion. Have you seen other gif applications?
Maybe I didn't look hard enough? If I had to type in bad words to still find nothing inappropriate, I am curious to see what you define as inappropriate?
I would also like to add that anything else your child views online is probably far worse (not sure if you allow that in your household). Children have no business on many popular applications such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
See this article for more information: Apple Watch For Your Kids - Apple
I looked around and didn’t find anything terrible, but there are thousands of images and it will be a huge temptation to kids in class and other times.
And there are ways to set up limitations and boundaries. Not doing so is on the parent. Apple can't do it for you.
This is a screenshot from the link I pasted earlier. (Apple Watch For Your Kids - Apple)
Apple gives you the car and the keys, but they can't drive the car for you.
It’s also a fallacy to blame anyone involved. As fast as safety and security measures are implemented, those with a vested interest in an alternative experience release a change that maintains the status quo. Everyone involved needs to have realistic expectations and to understand the technology and the limits of what it can do.
Yes, thank you. Unfortunately this looks like an older guidance :(
It’s 2 years old, are you saying you tried it and it doesn’t work?
Yes that is what I’m saying.
I have combed all articles and tried everything. I wouldn’t be posting if I knew the answer. We have every restriction enabled on the phone for them but thanks for the parenting advice 🙄
You're welcome. I just thought it was worth noting that gifs on iMessage are probably the least of your worries when it comes to the internet.
Is there a way to disable GIF's on my kids Apple Watch?
