Google Messages adds nudity blur option, plus other new security upgrades

October 23, 2024 TH Author

person texting — Jacques Julien/Getty Images

October is cybersecurity awareness month, and Google Messages is rolling out five new features to help keep you safe from digital threats.

In a blog post this week, Google laid out plans to help you see fewer spam texts, avoid potentially dangerous links, and prevent you from seeing unwanted nudity. Several of these are AI-powered, but this will be handled entirely on-device, meaning your communication will stay private.

Also: Why you don’t need to pay for antivirus software anymore

Here’s a look at what’s new from Google Messages:

Sensitive content warning: If you receive a message with a photo that might contain nudity, Google will offer a “speed bump” of sorts that blurs the image. You’ll see an option to view the content and a warning about sending sensitive images and resources to prevent accidental shares. This is an opt-in feature, meaning you must turn it on yourself.

Enhanced deception protection: Designed to ensure you don’t even see potential scam messages, this feature analyzes messages for common fraud attempts (like missed package delivery or job postings). When Google spots a scam, it will either give you a warning or move that message to spam. This feature is rolling out now to Messages beta users with spam protection enabled.
Intelligent warnings about dangerous links: Over the past year, users in several countries, including India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, started receiving warnings when they got a message with a link from an unknown sender. This feature is rolling out globally later this year.
International sender controls: If you don’t have a reason to receive a text from an international number, you can soon toggle your settings to hide text messages from international numbers that are not in your contacts. This feature will roll out first in Singapore but should roll out to other countries later.

Message confirmation: To help you avoid complex scams where someone impersonates a contact, Google is adding a verification feature that helps you confirm who you’re talking to. This feature verifies your contact’s public key to ensure you’re messaging a legitimate person. This feature will launch next year for Android 9+ devices.