iOS 16.6 Beta Lays Groundwork for iMessage Contact Key Verification

[MacRumors]

The iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 betas that Apple released today appear to include iMessage Contact Key Verification, though it is not yet clear if the feature is functional in the first beta.

There is an iMessage Contact Key Verification setting available in the Settings app, but tapping it does not appear to activate any actual feature. It may require additional settings to be on such as Security Keys, or it may not yet be fully implemented.

Announced late last year, iMessage Contact Key Verification is designed for Apple users who are facing "extraordinary digital threats." Apple intends for iMessage Contact Key Verification to be used by journalists, human rights activists, government officials, and others who are in danger of malicious digital attacks from state-sponsored attackers or other malicious actors.

iMessage Contact Key Verification lets Apple device owners verify that they are messaging with the people they intend to message rather than a malicious entity that has intercepted a message or is eavesdropping on a conversation. In a conversation between two or more people who have enabled iMessage Contact Key Verification, Apple will send an alert if the cloud servers are ever breached and a conversation is vulnerable to an intrusion.

Users who enable this feature can also compare a Contact Verification Code in person, on FaceTime, or through another secure app to further verify their identity and who they are communicating with.

Apple said that iMessage Contact Key Verification would be available on the iPhone and other Apple devices at some point in 2023, and it is one of the last features we are expecting to see in iOS 16.

iMessage Contact Key Verification was initially announced alongside Security Keys for Apple ID, a feature that was enabled in iOS 16.3.

(Thanks, Steve Moser!)

Article Link: iOS 16.6 Beta Lays Groundwork for iMessage Contact Key Verification

 

[vegetassj4]

tapping it does not appear to activate any actual feature

Double Secret Verification

 

[sw1tcher]

Announced late last year, iMessage Contact Key Verification is designed for Apple users who are facing "extraordinary digital threats." Apple intends for iMessage Contact Key Verification to be used by journalists, human rights activists, government officials, and others who are in danger of malicious digital attacks from state-sponsored attackers or other malicious actors.

iMessage Contact Key Verification lets Apple device owners verify that they are messaging with the people they intend to message rather than a malicious entity that has intercepted a message or is eavesdropping on a conversation.

How much is it per month to get and stay verified and will I also get a

?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

This feature is useless if you don't have anyone in the contact list

 

[segfaultdotorg]

How about iMessage for Android?

 

[Candy Apple+ Nutz]

Nope… it does nada.

 

[Candy Apple+ Nutz]

How about iMessage for Android?

This will be announced alongside AR Glasses. Hang in there! 👊😳👍

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Why do normal people need this? There will be tons of false positives.

 

[Cromulent]

I don't think I have ever used iMessage (at least intentionally), as everyone I know uses WhatsApp.

 

[ifxf]

I can see my brother jumping on this. More hoops to jump through or the rest of the family can ignore him until he comes to his senses.

 

[alexandr]

I would prefer the option to share my Home Key via iMessage...

 

[75Batt]

Why do normal people need this? There will be tons of false positives.

They don’t… as the article says - designed for Apple users who are facing "extraordinary digital threats”

 

[TrenttonY]

"Laying the groundwork" will be the most well-known phrase remembered when reminiscing about iOS 16.

 

[matthew12]

I don't think I have ever used iMessage (at least intentionally), as everyone I know uses WhatsApp.

With that, I feel like you're not in the US. In the US, everyone uses regular SMS/iMessage. I don't know anyone who uses Whatsapp. I have someone friends who mostly use Discord though, as it's easier to search and pin through that record, especially since we're a mix of iPhone and Android devices in our friend group.

 

[tigerninety]

I don't think I have ever used iMessage (at least intentionally), as everyone I know uses WhatsApp.

Not a single person I know uses WhatsApp, unless they absolutely, positively have to. (Not to say anything negative about it; just that it’s not universal.)

 

[aue123]

so your identity will be attached to your phone, not your phone number?

 

[Cromulent]

With that, I feel like you're not in the US. In the US, everyone uses regular SMS/iMessage. I don't know anyone who uses Whatsapp. I have someone friends who mostly use Discord though, as it's easier to search and pin through that record, especially since we're a mix of iPhone and Android devices in our friend group.

Not a single person I know uses WhatsApp, unless they absolutely, positively have to. (Not to say anything negative about it; just that it’s not universal.)

I'm English, so that probably explains it.

 

[ThomasJL]

Hey, Apple, instead of new features, how about first focusing only on bug fixes?

 

[Zc456]

Apple said that iMessage Contact Key Verification would be available on the iPhone and other Apple devices at some point in 2023, and it is one of the last features we are expecting to see in iOS 16.

Now I'm looking forward to iOS 17.

 

[BGPL]

I must've missed the news, have there been a lot of reports of people texting their friends/family and then it turns out it was some bad actor the entire time? I didn't know they had a man-in-the-middle attack for iMessage or SMS.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Now I'm looking forward to iOS 17.

Me too, I just hope that it's polished by the time it goes gold.

 

[dfwiddoc]

"Laying the groundwork" will be the most well-known phrase remembered when reminiscing about iOS 16.

Is there something novel you’re needing your iPhone to do that it can’t already? As it is mine has an orgy of features that I haven’t even begun to find a use for already.

Major filmmakers have been shooting wide release films on iPhones since the 4th generation. Recording artists are using it for music production. With each year it continues to get more blazingly fast, they keep upgrading to the latest network protocols, Bluetooth protocols, cellular protocols.

Ever year we see additional layers upon layers of sophistication being added to both cameras, they keep adopting the latest nanotechnology for their SOC, increasing RAM and storage—pretty soon they’ll close up the ports and it’ll be fully waterproof and you’ll be able to shower with the thing or take underwater photography. I’m pretty happy that with 16.5 the new HomeKit architecture has solved my problem of dropped devices.

And it’s still bar none the most reliable, nearly indestructible portable device I’ve ever owned—this phone. It is a phone you know.

This comment section is one endless Statler and Waldorf episode. If folks are so impatient and unhappy, why do they keep buying Apple? There’s plenty of buggy, clunky Android-based devices out there that are plentiful…

 

[budselectjr]

So is iMessage not really end to end encrypted then?

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

So is iMessage not really end to end encrypted then?

It is, this feature is just in case someone hacks into someone else’s account.

 

[svish]

Good to hear more about this. Taking a long time for Apple to release this feature.