closeicon
News

Apple to block Holocaust photos from appearing in iPhone 'memories'

The company has published a list of 'sensitive locations' that pictures will be blocked from appearing in iPhone memories

articlemain

Technology giant Apple is planning to block pictures from Holocaust sites appearing in automated compilations on all iPhones in its next update.

According to specialist news site 9to5mac.com, the latest update to Apple's Photos app will prevent pictures taken at certain locations from being included in its automated Memories feature.

Iphone's Memories are automated compilations of pictures from a user's camera roll that are automatically selected by Apple's algorithms.

The feature has been criticised in the past for surfacing pictures of dead relatives and ex-partners with no warning and the company introduced the ability to remove individuals from appearing in Memories in June 2021.

9to5Mac.com analysed code from the latest version of Iphone's operating system and found a list of locations that are blocked from the automatic compilation feature.

The list currently includes:

  • Yad Vashem Memorial

  • Dachau concentration camp

  • US Holocaust Museum

  • Majdanek concentration camp

  • Berlin Holocaust Memorial

  • Schindler Factory

  • Belzec extermination camp

  • Anne Frank House

  • Sobibor extermination camp

  • Treblinka extermination camp

  • Chelmno-Kulmhof extermination camp

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

Sites of historical importance to the events of the Holocaust have long been used for pictures deemed insensitive by Jewish groups and inidividuals.

In 2017, a German-Israeli artist found acclaim after photoshopping pictures of tourists posing at Holocaust sites onto pictures of Holocaust atrocities in an attempt to shame visitors out of taking lighthearted photos.

The website, 'Yolocaust' went viral and was described as both 'stinging' and 'powerful'.

Share via

Want more from the JC?

To continue reading, we just need a few details...

Want more from
the JC?

To continue reading, we just
need a few details...

Get the best news and views from across the Jewish world Get subscriber-only offers from our partners Subscribe to get access to our e-paper and archive