Starting with iOS 27.3, an item you share from iCloud with the "Anyone with the Link" setting, such as a photo in iCloud Photos or a file in iCloud Drive, becomes accessible to Apple, which will check it for harmful content. Apple has published the notice on its Malaysian support site, dated 3 November, and it covers iPadOS, macOS and visionOS 27.3 as well. The page does not say which countries the checks start in, or what counts as harmful.
Quick facts
- What changes: iCloud items shared with "Anyone with the Link" are checked by Apple for harmful content
- From which version: iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS 27.3 or later
- Encryption, unchanged: Apple's security page already says "anyone with the link" sharing does not support Advanced Data Protection
- Which setting: the notice covers "Anyone with the Link" only; it says nothing new about "People you choose" or Send a Copy
- Status: Apple's developer release list shows an iOS 27.3 beta dated 3 November
What Apple's notice says
When you share a photo from iCloud Photos or a file from iCloud Drive, Apple gives you two routes: Share a Link or Send a Copy. A shared link can go to "People you choose", meaning only people you invite or approve, or to "Anyone with the link". According to Apple's support page, from version 27.3 the second option makes the item accessible to anyone who has the link, "including Apple", and Apple will check it for harmful content.
If you try to upload harmful content, Apple says it can move, refuse, modify, remove or delete it at any time. It can also block or disable the Apple Account, stop the same email address or phone number from opening a new one, and "if necessary" involve law enforcement. The page also carries Apple's usual caveat that not every feature is available in every country or region, so the Malaysian listing tells you Apple is publishing the policy here, not the date the checks begin.
The change comes in the update after iOS 27.2. Apple's developer release list shows "iOS 27.3 beta (24C5037i)" dated 3 November 2026, and gives no public release date.
No plan is named as an exception
Apple's Malaysian iCloud+ page lists five storage plans, from RM3.90 a month for 50GB to RM269.90 a month for 12TB. Apple's notice is written around the sharing setting and names no exemption for any of them.
What is new is the checking, not the encryption. Apple's iCloud data security overview already lists sharing content with "anyone with the link" among the features that do not support Advanced Data Protection, because the keys for that shared content are uploaded to Apple's data centres so iCloud can make the sharing work. The 27.3 notice repeats that point and adds that Apple will now check those items.
What you can do
Apple's notice is about "Anyone with the Link". If a file is private, the other routes Apple describes are "People you choose", where only people you invite or approve can open it, and Send a Copy, which does not create a shared link. Keep "Anyone with the Link" for things you would be comfortable with anyone seeing. If you are still deciding whether your iPhone will get these updates at all, our guide to which iPhones run iOS 27 covers it.
What we cannot tell you yet is what Apple will treat as harmful: its support page does not define the term.
