Back in October 2024, Google announced new safety tools for its Messages app. The most notable, Sensitive Content Warnings, is now widely rolling out to Android users, adding an extra layer of protection when it comes to sharing or receiving nude images.
When enabled, Google Messages can detect if a photo contains nudity. If you receive one, the app will blur it by default and give you the option to delete it without viewing. Try to send an image with nudity, and you’ll get a reminder about the risks before having to confirm the send. This works even if you’re forwarding a message rather than being the original sender.
Image credit – 9to5Google
You can find the setting by opening Google Messages, tapping your profile image, and heading into Message settings. Under the Protection & Safety section, there’s a “Manage sensitive content warnings” option that doesn’t look clickable, but it is. Inside, you can toggle the feature and access Google’s resources on making safer online choices.
Google says all detection happens entirely on your device. So, flagged images aren’t sent to its servers. The company admits the system isn’t perfect and may occasionally miss or wrongly flag content. Whether the feature is turned on automatically depends on your age and account type. For adults, it’s off by default, for unsupervised teens, it’s on but can be disabled, and for supervised users under 18, it’s on and cannot be turned off without a parent’s approval in Family Link.
Apple offers a similar safeguard in iMessage. It blurs NSFW photos for younger users before they’re opened. Google’s rollout now brings Android users a comparable level of built-in protection. However, for now, the nudity detection only works with still images, not videos.
