What to know about Apple’s new iOS feature that will help you avoid CAPTCHAs

Madeline Merinuk

Good news for those tired of picking out images containing traffic lights: Apple recently announced a new feature for iOS users that will allow them to bypass certain websites that have CAPTCHAs.

In case you didn't know: CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

If you've ever made an account on a website or have signed into a preexisting account, you've probably encountered a CAPTCHA: aka, those quick tests that ask you to prove you're not a robot by selecting images or typing in a combination of distorted letters and numbers.

These exist not for legitimate users, but to catch bots or online attackers — but unfortunately, legitimate users must also suffer the CAPTCHA experience.

That's why Apple is creating a feature that will be able to tell some websites and apps that you are definitely not a robot.

Here's what we know about the feature so far

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference shared how "apps and websites can work together with Apple and fraud prevention providers across the industry to reduce the need for CAPTCHAs," according to Apple representative Tommy Pauly.

CAPTCHAs provide fraud protection for website servers — but at a cost to the user. (Piotr Swat / Alamy)
CAPTCHAs provide fraud protection for website servers — but at a cost to the user. (Piotr Swat / Alamy)

Sometimes CAPTCHAs take away from the user experience of a site, according to Pauly, by providing slower and more complex user experiences. Plus, they are typically inaccessible for people with language barriers or certain disabilities — which of course is not ideal for sites and apps that want to see their traffic continue to grow.

So how can you prevent fraud and still provide a good user experience?

Meet private access tokens, an online tool used to prevent fraud. According to Pauly, private access tokens allow servers to automatically trust users as opposed to CAPTCHAs, which make you complete a fraud prevention test.

Private access tokens will allow Apple users to bypass CAPTCHAs. (apple.com)
Private access tokens will allow Apple users to bypass CAPTCHAs. (apple.com)

"This is going to save a lot of people a lot of time," said Pauly.

So, according to TechCrunch, you’ll be able to go to the settings app to find a new “Automatic Verification” section under your Apple ID and then "Password & Security." The new feature will allow you to turn on “bypass CAPTCHAs,” which uses iCloud verification in both apps and websites.

This feature will be available when iOS 16 and macOS Ventura launch later in 2022.

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