When iOS 16 is released later this fall, you may notice that there are less unpleasant CAPTCHAs that need you to move a jigsaw piece or discern between a hill and a mountain. That’s because Apple is releasing Automatic Verification, a feature for iPhones and Macs that lets select websites verify you’re not a bot without you having to do anything (via MacRumors).
Apple developed the solution in collaboration with two large content delivery networks, Fastly and Cloudflare. Sites that use either of the services to guard against spam should be able to take advantage of the system when it launches with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, and stop giving you so many CAPTCHAs.
If you pay attention to how many sites fall down when Fastly or Cloudflare experience problems, you’ll see that a major portion of the internet may become substantially less unpleasant (especially to those who see CAPTCHAs more often than average because they use a VPN or clear their cookies frequently).
While this isn’t the first attempt to do away with CAPTCHAs, Apple’s size implies we might actually make some progress this time. The underlying mechanism, known as Private Access Tokens, is similar to Apple’s password-replacement method. Here’s how it works in a nutshell: your gadget looks at a multitude of factors to assess whether or not you’re a human. When you visit a website that ordinarily requires you to complete a CAPTCHA, the website might ask your phone or computer if you are a person. You’ll be let through immediately if your device says yes.
Read more about this at theverge.com
