- Viral videos of a fake iPhone privacy screen feature is circulating
- It appears to be a prototype made by a creator on Figma
- Apple doesn’t have the existing hardware to roll out a feature like this
Have you been seeing viral videos of Apple’s alleged take on Samsung’s Privacy Display tool? I hate to break it to you, but they’re all fake — and even I foolishly succumbed to them.
Essentially, a number of creators on TikTok have been showcasing a privacy screen feature in what looks exactly like Apple’s iPhone settings. These accounts claim that the feature is part of a developer beta testing roll out, garnering thousands of comments, but twice the confusion given that Apple just rolled out iOS 26.4.
It turns out that, despite how real they may look, these viral videos are fake and Apple hasn’t revealed any plans to roll out its own privacy screen feature. I’m on Apple’s iOS 26 public beta and have checked my settings many times — no such tool exists.
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So why do these videos look frighteningly convincing? After scouring a handful of videos and the comments underneath them, there are a few things you should be aware of.
Apple doesn’t have the hardware
Just a few months back Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the flagship model for its impressive Privacy Display feature which lets you hide notifications and other on-screen content from those who aren’t looking at the phone straight-on. Naturally, it would be only a matter of time before Apple would jump on this — but now isn’t that time, because Apple simply doesn’t have existing hardware that can support a privacy feature like this.
When it comes to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the screen is built differently to previous models, using ‘narrow’ pixels which emit light forwards, and ‘wide’ pixels that emit light to the sides. When Privacy Display is enabled, wide pixels operate at a minimum level, restricting visibility for side viewers with narrow pixels give the front-facing user full clarity.
In order for Apple to roll out its own privacy screen tool to existing hardware, it would need similar pixel technology to support this, so what you’ve seen in the viral videos is definitely false. But even then, how has its creator been able to replicate the Samsung tool on iPhones that are incapable of offering support? One word; prototype.
Users are getting creative, and viewers are getting naïve
Digging through endless comments does have its pay-offs, and it appears that the Apple privacy screen tool you’re seeing online is a prototype made by the user and self-deemed ‘iOS exploiter’ @nxtcoreee3 on TikTok, whose video has accumulated over 12 million views at the time of writing. The user claims to have developed the prototype using Figma, a design tool used for creating user interfaces and user experiences.
In addition to the developer’s video, other users with access to the prototype have been sharing their own videos, making it seem as though it’s a legitimate beta rollout. But each video has one thing in common; the devices in the videos all have the 3:19 timestamp. This is not a coincidence, as user @nxtcoreee3 explicitly writes in their TikTok bio ‘3:19 is my watermark’, proving that the iOS tool is completely made up.
With this combined with Apple’s lack of supporting hardware, it’s safe to say that Apple will not be rolling out this privacy tool any time soon, and that the videos that are making rounds online are simply creative examples of what Apple could produce. But despite this, I wouldn’t say the cards are completely off the table for Apple when it comes to developing its own version in the future.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
