iOS has had a private photo picker for a few years now, where you can pick photos from within an app without giving access to all photos.

WhatsApp doesn’t use it and Apple doesn’t hold them to account over it. So, um, yay? Apps like Signal do use it.

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bee_rider 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Do apps have the option to not use the photo picker? I thought from the app’s point of view, the photos that iOS shows it are all the photos on the filesystem.

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sefrost 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

WhatsApp does appear to only have access to a subset of photos on my iPhone.

The UX is a little clunky because you have to “add” a new photo which it can then access, but I prefer the privacy of it.

	▲	signal11 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		The subset of photos thing was a relatively clunky addition in iOS 14. iOS 17 introduced a much better picker but devs have to opt into using it for now. Signal[1] and a bunch of other apps do use the newer iOS 17 picker. [1] https://ibb.co/KpkfrDMZ

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ks2048 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If you set the access to “Limited Access”, then that’s what the App has. It’s not a decision for WhatsApp to make - it’s in iOS.

	▲	signal11 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		“Limited access” is an older iOS feature from 2020, and different from the “private access” photo picker introduced with iOS 17[1]. [1] https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10053/?time... Limited access isn’t great UX because it’s not reasonable for users to have to manage a list of photos for every app. The new one is much better, but unfortunately app devs have to opt into it for now.