Fake iPhone Privacy Display videos are fooling everyone on TikTok
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld debunks viral TikTok videos with over 10 million views, falsely claiming iPhones have Samsung’s “Privacy View” feature, which limits screen visibility from all angles.
- These fake beta demos of iOS 26.4 are capitalizing on high user demand for enhanced privacy features that prevent shoulder browsing.
- Privacy technology requires new hardware, not software updates, and Apple would heavily promote and uniquely brand such an important feature if it were real.
One of the flagship features of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra phone is a new feature called Privacy Display. It displays the pixels on the screen in such a way that tilted people can’t see what’s on your phone, but you can see it clearly and directly. It’s a handy feature for those times when you don’t want people to know that you’re captivated by horse racing test videos, or want to discreetly text your best friend about the stink of the person next to you on the bus.
It’s such a cool feature that we think Apple needs to copy it. To reiterate what Macworld’s Mahmoud Itani said, Apple presents itself as a privacy advocate, so this feature is perfect for the iPhone. I actually wonder why Apple didn’t think of this feature in the first place – another point Itani makes in his article, but that’s for another day.
Privacy View is a feature that iPhone users would love, and social media “influencers” are well aware of it. The less scrupulous take advantage of this desire and make fake videos purporting to show the privacy view functionality in iOS 26.4 beta. Most of these videos show an iPhone and a screen labeled “Privacy Display”, then the camera or phone switches from a straight shot to a tilted shot, where the screen or part of it goes black.
You’ve been had. You have been caught. You have been deceived. Embossed
The video above has over 10 million views and 450,000 likes. If you see it, don’t be fooled. This is false. Apple does not have such a feature in the current version of iOS 26 and is also not tested in the beta version of iOS 26. This “influencer” made these videos to capture your attention, get a valued view added to their account and hopefully a like and follow. This may be very well done, but it is false. FAKE.
How do we know it’s false? On the one hand, such functionality requires completely new screen technology and cannot be added via software. Second, if Apple created such a feature, it would promote it because it’s so cool. And finally, here’s the biggest reveal: the “influencers” who make these videos gave the feature the same name as Samsung. Apple wouldn’t do that. They’d give it a name like “Personal Privacy” or something like that, something that reminds you that the data you’re protecting is your data.
This feature doesn’t exist for the iPhone at the moment, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple eventually offers its own version. And like I said, when it does, you’ll definitely find out from Apple itself and not from a TikTokker.
