Connect with us

Apple

iOS 16 has a new feature that skips annoying website CAPTCHAs

This is great news.

Screenshot of ios 16 showing automatic verification for captcha
Image: KnowTechie

Apple’s iOS 16 is going to solve one of the annoyances of the modern web. When it arrives this fall, a feature called Automatic Verification will let you skip CAPTCHAs on some websites or apps.

The best part? You won’t even see those annoying grids or puzzle piece sliders when you reach the website. Everything will be done behind the scenes.

To enable this, Apple worked together with Cloudflare and Fastly, two of the major content delivery networks. It’s not limited to iOS 16, macOS Ventura is also going to get the CAPTCHA-skipping feature.

Once enabled, going to any website that uses these two content delivery networks will get an automatic verification token from your iCloud. That means no CAPTCHA prompt, as your device will already have done the bot check for you. Sweet.

READ MORE: iOS 16 will soon let iPhone users report spam SMS messages

Screenshot of apple diagram of how private access tokens work
Image: Apple

READ MORE: CarPlay in iOS 16 lets you pay for gas from your car dashboard

Again, when you go to a website that’s set up for Private Access Tokens, Apple’s system checks to make sure your device and your Apple ID are in good standing, then sends the token to the site.

To enable Automatic Verification once your iPhone is on iOS 16

If you’re on the beta of iOS 16 right now, Automatic Verification is on by default. We’re not sure if that will be the case when the public builds come this fall.

  1. Open the Settings app
Ios settings app
Image: KnowTechie
  1. Tap on your Apple ID
Ios settings apple id
Image: KnowTechie
  1. Tap on Password & Security
Ios settings password and security
Image: KnowTechie
  1. Scroll down and toggle Automatic Verification to ON
Screenshot of ios 16 showing automatic verification for captcha
Image: KnowTechie

Apple isn’t the only company working on this type of verification. Google was also involved in creating this token-based system, according to Fastly, so there is every chance this could come to Google Chrome or to Android in the future.

Bypassing CAPTCHA for human users will greatly improve our internet experience. The worry we have is that it won’t be long until bot makers discover how to add Private Access Tokens into their bots. That will make this new fix essentially useless.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

Follow us on Flipboard, Google News, or Apple News

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in Apple