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Google Messages Adds Option to Blur Nude Images Before Viewing

ByHilary Ong

Aug 18, 2025

Google Messages Adds Option to Blur Nude Images Before Viewing

Google has added a sensitive content warning system to its Messages app that automatically blurs nude images. The feature, now available more widely, is intended to protect users—especially younger ones—from receiving explicit content they did not ask for.

Sensitive Content Warnings were first revealed last year before being tested with select users in April. With the latest update, they are now broadly accessible.

The system relies on Android’s on-device SafetyCore technology, which scans incoming photos for nudity. If an image is flagged, it is blurred until the user decides what to do next. Options include opening the image anyway, returning to the main Messages tab, blocking the sender, or following a link to Google’s resource page explaining the risks of explicit content.

Google has also built in a warning for those who try to send nude images themselves. Before an image can be shared, the app will issue a reminder of the risks and ask for confirmation to continue.

Settings and Availability

The feature requires users to be signed into a Google account. For adults, it is turned off by default but can be enabled through the Messages app’s settings under the protection and safety menu. Children’s accounts, however, have the feature switched on automatically. Teenagers between 13 and 17 with unsupervised accounts do have the option to turn it off if they choose.

Google acknowledges the detection technology is not perfect. Some images without nudity may be flagged in error, and others containing nudity may slip through undetected. Despite these limitations, the feature is meant to reduce the risk of harmful exposure and harassment. Similar protections already exist on other platforms like iMessage and Instagram.

Author’s Opinion

Automatic blurring gives people—especially kids and teens—a chance to pause before they’re exposed to something damaging. The warnings may not stop everything, but they build in a moment of choice and awareness that many messaging apps lack. Even if the feature isn’t perfect, it sets a standard that others should follow.


Featured image credit: SlashGears

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Hilary Ong

Hello, from one tech geek to another. Not your beloved TechCrunch writer, but a writer with an avid interest in the fast-paced tech scenes and all the latest tech mojo. I bring with me a unique take towards tech with a honed applied psychology perspective to make tech news digestible. In other words, I deliver tech news that is easy to read.

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