[TooKool4This]

The Find My network can be opted out of in the settings [1]. And if I remember correctly, it asks you to opt in (but I might be remembering wrong)

I have somewhat the opposite opinion though that there are way too many settings in iOS now and it does get difficult to dive through all the menus. Best thing I can recommend is to use the search in the settings.

[1] https://www.howtogeek.com/725664/how-to-opt-out-of-apples-fi...

[blevin]

Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions is an example of a nested settings labyrinth that is somewhat hard to navigate for parents just trying to keep their kids from seeing bad stuff, esp. as it interacts with individual app behaviors. Ex: set TV restrictions to 9+ and the Netflix app entirely vanishes, instead of just filtering its content. Scalable trustworthy content filtering delegation for families seems unsolved.

[exikyut]

A prompt of "these apps will now be hidden" sounds like a start.

Getting more specific and explaining *why* certain apps are being hidden for a given age setting would be even better. Each app would probably provide its own explanatory string to be displayed (so the liability and complaints can be shifted to the apps, and the whole idea could actually get off the ground ;) ).

I'm honestly curious why Netflix is being hidden in particular. I immediately thought of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COPPA, but then realized that law is around data collection and privacy. Is Netflix just checking out completely because of that, or is there some more nuanced media-specific thing they're avoiding falling afoul of by disappearing for 9+?

[makeitdouble]

On the apps, yes a ton of wildly popular services will vanish below 13yo.

I understand the calculation on the companies side, and there’s also a widespread “children shouldn’t be using/doing/viewing anything mildly risky” kind of mentality spreading around that makes it a no-risk move to just ban kids from a platform.

I recently wanted to move a youtube account inside the family management umbrella, and setting it’s age at 11 meant the account couldn’t see nor write comments on any video anymore. And there’s no authorization the parent can give to lift the restriction. Of course to move the age back you need an official ID as proof, so it was a one way move…

[jachee]

Isn’t that because of COPPA, which makes it illegal to retain any personally identifying information about or from people under age 13?

[makeitdouble]

Yes and no. COPPA has a direct role in the 13 yo cut-off, but it’s not the whole story.

For instance I’m directly mentioning Youtube, but outside of comments it’s still somewhat usable for a 13- yo kid.

Twitter could have set a mode for 13yo (idk, have parents pre-vet the tweets if they are really into controlling ?) but it looks like it was simpler for them to just ban pre-teen accounts.

I’m not sure facebook can deal with pre-13 yo either.

Basically the shittier the company, the less it will be able to handle the pre 13yo case, and I wouldn’t put the blame on COPPA.

[BudaDude]

I’m not sure if this an Apple or Netflix issue . Is there an api that Netflix could use to determine if content restriction is enabled ?

[dalbin]

> Read the media rating on a device and determine what media to display on your app.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedsettings/re...

[QuikAccount]

Seems kind of ridiculous that in order to opt out of Apple's airtag network you essentially have to give up the ability to find your phone if it gets lost.

[TooKool4This]

No this will just turn off the ability to find your phone by using other people's phone. You will still have the phone report its location and be able to locate it in "Find My" but lose features such as being able to find the phone if its out of battery/turned off/not in cell reception range.

Image of the current settings and explanation: https://imgur.com/a/TepOqb2

[mostdataisnice]

It's not ridiculous at all - you don't get to reap the benefits of the network without participating.

[Nextgrid]

Find My iPhone primarily uses the phone to self-report its position when requested over the Internet.

This new "Find My" network (what a stupid name, btw) also allows to use other devices to report positions of nearby devices for those that don't have a data connection (AirTags or iPhones that were powered off).

The problem seems to be that a single toggle controls both features, while the first feature doesn't rely the community network and should remain available even if you opted out.

[tshaddox]

As others are mentioning, I see two toggles, and the second toggle is "Find My network" which is the one that works by other people's iPhones detecting your iPhone even when it's offline, in power reserve mode, or powered off.

[TooKool4This]

Thats actually how it is set up.

Current settings screen: https://imgur.com/a/TepOqb2

[thebigman433]

This is not how it works. There are two different toggles, one for the Find My system, and one for just having your iPhone report its last condition. If you dont care about being able to find your phone/devices when theyre off, then you can simply opt out of the Find My network and rely on the basic position reporting.

[ezfe]

They use the same system

[ComputerGuru]

They didn't use to, though. And you can't get that old functionality back while disabling the new.

[Retric]

Yes you can, they have different toggles.

There are currently two independent systems for finding your phone that work in different but complementary fashions.

Well arguably 3 systems, an iPhone can also be set to report it’s location when the battery is low.

[chasil]

As I understand it, Airtags are low-power Bluetooth devices with no GPS capability.

If your Bluetooth transceiver is disabled, your iOS device will not see nor report the locations of any Airtags that are otherwise in range.

If you do enable Bluetooth on an iOS device, any Airtags detected will be reported to Apple over any available data connection, and this cannot be disabled in iOS as far as I know.

Disabling Bluetooth will likely save any device's battery. This is separate from GPS and mobile data.

[tshaddox]

> If you do enable Bluetooth on an iOS device, any Airtags detected will be reported to Apple over any available data connection, and this cannot be disabled in iOS as far as I know.

That certainly seems to contradict Apple's own documentation on the Find My network. At least according to my interpretation, it seems very clear that disabling the "Find My network" toggle will disable your device's participation in the network.

[FireBeyond]

I don't think it's clear. It's clear that it will disable the ability for _your device_ to be a _findable target_ device in the network.

It doesn't particularly imply that your device isn't still acting as a 'base' for other devices in the network.

[tshaddox]

It seems pretty clear to me that the setting is symmetrical, and disabling it prevents your device from being discovered by other devices and from sending messages about other devices it discovers:

> Find My can use the Find My network to help find devices even if they are not connected to the internet and, for supported devices, even if they are turned off or erased. Devices in the Find My network use Bluetooth wireless technology to detect missing devices or compatible items nearby, including AirTags and compatible third-party products registered to your Apple ID, and report their approximate location back to the owner. If a device is turned off or erased, that location is also visible to members of the owner’s Family Sharing group with whom they have chosen to share the location. The interaction is end-to-end encrypted, and Apple cannot see the location of any offline device or reporting device. When your device participates in the Find My network, it can both be located by the network and anonymously help locate other missing devices. You can choose to have your iOS or iPadOS device not participate in the Find My network by going to Settings > [your name] > Find My > Find My [device] and tapping to disable Find My network.