Audit Family Photo Privacy

Use Claude Code to audit old devices and app access to family photos.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Old phones and forgotten apps can keep access long after your family stops using them. A careful privacy check can reveal those loose ends without exposing the photos you want to protect.

In this project, you will build a redacted family photo privacy audit under the iPhone owner's control. Claude Code will organize evidence from signed-in devices, current permissions, and recent app behavior in a restricted mode.

What You'll Build

Your finished audit shows forgotten devices, broad app access, confidence-labeled recommendations, and verified before-and-after counts without exposing private family content.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A redacted device inventory that lets you review every device signed in to the owner's Apple Account through neutral aliases.
A permission review that surfaces apps with the broadest Photos access or Always location access. Available App Privacy Report domains provide context for apps already flagged.
A read-only recommendation table that labels each item Keep, Reduce, Remove, or Verify Manually. Every recommendation includes a confidence label for the owner to review.
Secret Mission: Add a transparent triage score that separates strong evidence from owner memory and unresolved questions.

Are there any prerequisites?

You need a Mac running macOS 13.0 or later with at least 4 GB RAM.

You also need an iPhone running iOS 16 or later. The iPhone must use an Apple Account with two-factor authentication enabled.

The project also requires internet access, the iPhone owner's consent, and Claude Pro or another eligible paid plan. Claude Pro costs $20 per month plus applicable tax on monthly billing.

Before We Start

The owner-approved audit purpose is to review family-photo-related device and app access, use only redacted evidence, and require the owner to approve every settings change. This commitment protects private content before any hands-on work begins.

Set Up a Private Audit Workspace

A privacy audit can create a second privacy problem when its workspace contains the private content it aims to protect.

This step applies data minimization before Claude Code sees any audit evidence. You will confirm device compatibility before creating one deliberately redacted workspace.

In this step, get ready to:

Confirm that the Mac and iPhone meet the audit requirements.
Authenticate a verified Claude Code installation with eligible paid access.
Create the only redacted file intended for Claude Code to inspect.

Check device compatibility

Claude Code requires macOS 13.0 or later with at least 4 GB of RAM. The Mac also needs an internet connection.

Safety Check requires iOS 16 or later. It also requires an Apple Account that uses two-factor authentication.

Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the Mac screen.
Select About This Mac.

You will see the installed macOS version in this window.

Confirm that the Mac runs macOS 13.0 or later.
Confirm that the Mac has at least 4 GB of memory.

The Mac meets the Claude Code hardware requirements when both values meet those minimums.

On the iPhone, open Settings.
Tap General.
Tap About.

You will see the installed software version next to iOS Version.

Confirm that the iPhone runs iOS 16 or later.
Ask the owner to confirm that their Apple Account uses two-factor authentication.
Return to the main Settings screen.
Confirm that the owner's account appears at the top of the screen.

Does a device miss a minimum?

The timed audit begins only after both devices meet the supported versions.

Stop here if the Mac or iPhone misses a minimum requirement.
Update a compatible device before continuing the project.

Your devices now clear the compatibility gate. The owner also has the account protections needed for the later review.

Set up Claude access

Claude Code requires Claude Pro or another eligible paid plan. Claude Pro costs $20 per month plus applicable tax on monthly billing.

Starting Claude Pro creates a recurring subscription charge. You can skip the purchase when the account already has another eligible paid plan.

Open Claude on the web in your browser.
Sign in to the Claude account you will use for this audit.

The account page shows the plan currently attached to the signed-in account.

Activate Claude Pro with monthly billing if the account does not have eligible paid access.

The account now has access to Claude Code.

Open Settings in Claude on the web.
Select Privacy.

The Privacy page contains the model-improvement control for new chats and coding sessions.

Turn off Help Improve our AI models.

Why keep redacting after this setting?

Turning this setting off stops new consumer chats and coding sessions from being used for future model training. Anthropic documents a safety-classifier exception.

Redaction remains the strongest boundary because the audit never needs personal content.

That privacy control now covers new coding sessions from this account. The next boundary is the Claude Code installation itself.

Press Cmd+Space on the Mac to open Spotlight.
Type Terminal into Spotlight.

You will see Terminal in the search results.

Press Return to open Terminal.
Check the current Claude Code installation by running this command:

claude --version

What does this check do?

This command asks an existing Claude Code installation to print its version. Your result determines which tab to follow.

✔️ I see the required version

You are ready to authenticate when the output shows 2.1.318 or later.

ⓧ I see an older version

The installed release is older than the version used for this project. Install the current native release before continuing.

Install the current Claude Code release by running this command:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

What does this installer do?

This is Anthropic's native macOS installer. It downloads the current Claude Code release into your local environment.

Close the current Terminal window after the installer finishes.
Press Cmd+Space to reopen Spotlight.
Type Terminal into Spotlight.
Press Return to open a fresh Terminal window.
Repeat the version check shown above.

ⓧ Command not found

Claude Code is not installed yet. The native installer adds it to your Mac.

Install Claude Code by running this command:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

What does this installer do?

This is Anthropic's native macOS installer. It downloads Claude Code so Terminal can run it.

Close the current Terminal window after the installer finishes.
Press Cmd+Space to reopen Spotlight.
Type Terminal into Spotlight.
Press Return to open a fresh Terminal window.
Repeat the version check shown above.

Still missing the required version?

A fresh Terminal window loads the path created by the installer. Confirm that you reopened Terminal before retrying the check.

If the installer reported a network failure, confirm the Mac has internet access before running it again.

Ask for help with the installation result.

The login command opens a browser so you can authorize the Terminal session. Use the same account that has eligible paid access.

Start Claude Code authentication by running this command:

claude auth login

What does this command do?

This command starts the Anthropic account sign-in flow. The completed browser authorization connects Claude Code to the paid account.

Complete the browser sign-in with the eligible paid Claude account.
Return to the Terminal window from earlier after authorization finishes.

Claude Code is now installed under an authenticated account. You will run the full diagnostic check after creating its restricted workspace.

Create the redacted workspace

Finder keeps the audit inside one named folder. TextEdit creates the plain-text file without adding rich-text formatting.

Claude Code will inspect only Documents/family-photo-audit during this audit. The folder will contain a single deliberately redacted file.

Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
Select Documents in the Finder sidebar.

The Finder window now shows the contents of Documents.

Choose File in the macOS menu bar.
Choose New Folder.

You will see a new folder with its name selected for editing.

Type family-photo-audit as the folder name.
Press Return to save the folder name.

The family-photo-audit folder is now visible inside Documents.

Press Cmd+Space to open Spotlight.
Type TextEdit into Spotlight.

You will see TextEdit in the search results.

Press Return to open TextEdit.
Create a new document from the File menu.

You will see a blank TextEdit document ready for the audit structure.

Choose Format in the macOS menu bar.
Choose Make Plain Text.

The document now stores simple text without rich-text formatting.

Add the redaction reminder and audit headings by copying this text into the document:

PRIVACY REMINDER
Do not enter personal names, messages, photos, serial numbers, phone numbers, Apple Account identifiers, full URLs, or copied screenshots.

Consent

Report Status

Devices

Apps

Baseline Counts

Recommended Changes

Final Counts

How does this structure protect the audit?

The reminder defines which private details must stay out of the file.
The headings separate consent from evidence collected later.
The two count sections create space for before-and-after validation.

Press Cmd+S to open the save dialog.
Enter audit-notes.txt in the save-name field.

The save dialog now has the exact plain-text filename required by the audit.

Select the family-photo-audit folder inside Documents as the save location.
Click Save.

Your redacted audit file now exists at Documents/family-photo-audit/audit-notes.txt.

Switch back to the Finder window from earlier.
Open the family-photo-audit folder.

You should see only audit-notes.txt inside the folder. That single-file boundary defines what Claude Code may inspect during the audit.

✔️ Awesome, I've got everything!

Great. Confirm that audit-notes.txt is saved as plain text inside Documents/family-photo-audit.

ⓧ I'd like to double check the full code

Compare your complete audit-notes.txt file with this reference:

PRIVACY REMINDER
Do not enter personal names, messages, photos, serial numbers, phone numbers, Apple Account identifiers, full URLs, or copied screenshots.

Consent

Report Status

Devices

Apps

Baseline Counts

Recommended Changes

Final Counts

Before you run these checks, do you expect the installation, diagnostics, and account status to agree?

Switch back to the Terminal window from earlier.
Verify the Claude Code installation by running these commands:

claude --version
claude doctor
claude auth status --text

What should you see?

The first command prints a Claude Code version number.
The second command prints read-only diagnostics without a blocking installation error.
The third command prints a human-readable signed-in status.

That is the workspace locked in. Claude Code is authenticated on a compatible Mac without receiving any private phone content.

Does one verification check fail?

A missing version usually means the fresh Terminal window did not load the installer path. Reopen Terminal before retrying the checks.

An unsigned account status means the browser authorization did not finish. Repeat the login flow with the eligible paid account.

Help me diagnose my Claude Code verification result.

Your private workspace is ready. Next, you will test how much behavioral evidence the iPhone currently has available.

Check App Privacy Report Status

Your redacted workspace is ready for its first privacy check. The owner still controls every iPhone settings change.

The App Privacy Report contains behavior evidence. This step checks its current limits before the audit treats that evidence as a permission inventory.

In this step, get ready to:

Check the current App Privacy Report state.
Inspect available behavior evidence without retaining sensitive details.
Record the report status and its role in the audit.

Check App Privacy Report

The report may be off or already collecting behavior data. The screen reveals which starting state applies to this iPhone.

Enabling the report changes an iPhone privacy setting. The owner remains the decision-maker for this change.

Before you check, do you think this iPhone already has a populated report?

Open Settings on the iPhone.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap App Privacy Report.

You will see either Turn on App Privacy Report or the current report sections.

Ask the owner to approve activation if Turn on App Privacy Report is displayed.
Tap Turn on App Privacy Report after the owner approves.

If you enabled the report, its collection starts now. The available sections can contain little or no data at first.

A sparse report is a valid result. It exposes the evidence gap that this check was designed to reveal.

Can't Find App Privacy Report?

Use the compatible iOS version you confirmed earlier. If the option remains missing, pause the audit before changing any other settings.

Ask for help with the missing setting.

Inspect Available Behavior Sections

The report separates recent app behavior into sensor access and network activity. You only need to inspect sections that currently contain data.

Before you inspect the sections, how complete do you expect the behavior history to be?

Review Data & Sensor Access if it contains entries.
Review App Network Activity if it contains entries.
Review Most Contacted Domains if it contains entries.
Keep full URLs out of your notes.
Keep timestamps out of your notes.
Avoid taking screenshots of the report.
Ignore browsing information unrelated to the flagged apps you review later.

A newly enabled report may have empty or partial sections. An existing report may show behavior from the past seven days.

The report supplies behavior context. Direct iPhone settings supply the source of truth for current permissions.

Record Report Status

Your redacted file needs one status label that matches what you observed. This preserves the report's limitation for the rest of the audit.

Which Status Should You Record?

Use newly enabled when the owner turned on the report during this step.
Use partial data available when only some behavior sections contain entries.
Use existing seven-day data available when an active report shows its existing seven-day history.

Switch back to Finder from earlier.
Return to Documents/family-photo-audit.
Double-click audit-notes.txt to return to the plain-text file in TextEdit.
Type the matching status label under Report Status.
Add a note that identifies App Privacy Report as behavior context while naming direct iPhone settings as the source of truth for current permissions.

You should now see one report status and one source-of-truth note under Report Status.

Press Cmd+S to save audit-notes.txt.

Before you check the saved file, do you expect both pieces of report context to be present?

Read the saved Report Status section.
Confirm that exactly one status label appears.
Confirm that the note names direct iPhone settings as the source of truth for current permissions.

Good work. Your audit now separates recent behavior evidence from current permission evidence.

The report's limits are documented. Next, you will build the direct device and app inventory that answers the current-access questions.

Build a Redacted Access Inventory

Your App Privacy Report check showed that recent behavior can be missing or partial. That blind spot makes network history an incomplete access inventory.

Direct settings reveal current access through the Apple Account device list plus the iPhone permission categories. The owner remains in control because this step records evidence without changing settings.

In this step, get ready to:

Inventory every signed-in device with a neutral alias.
Inventory broad Photos access plus Location Services access set to Always.
Attach limited domain context before recording baseline counts.

Inventory signed-in devices

Data minimization means collecting only the details needed for a decision. Each signed-in device needs a neutral alias plus three owner-approved facts.

Return to the Settings app on the owner's iPhone.
Tap the owner's name at the top of Settings.
Scroll through the complete device list from the first entry to the last.
Keep each device entry closed to avoid exposing details that this audit does not need.

Keep the Device List Redacted

Device detail screens can reveal serial numbers plus other account identifiers. The main list provides enough information to assign aliases and ask the owner about each device.

Switch back to audit-notes.txt in TextEdit.
Under Devices, assign aliases in list order starting with Device A.
Ask the owner whether they recognize each aliased device plus whether they used it within the past six months.
Record one line per device using four fields: alias, device type, recognition answer, six-month-use answer.
Count the aliases under Devices.
Return to the Apple Account device list.
Compare the alias total with the complete signed-in device list.

You have cleared the first privacy hurdle. Every signed-in device now has a neutral record without copied identifiers.

Why Owner Memory Stays Separate

The six-month answer comes from the owner's memory. The device list does not provide a last-seen date for this audit.

Later recommendations must treat the answer as owner-supplied evidence. They must never convert it into a machine-derived date.

Review Photos access

This part can feel fiddly because the broadest Photos access label can vary across supported iOS versions. The iPhone screen supplies the exact wording for this audit.

Return to the Settings app.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap Photos.
Review every app shown in the Photos permission list.
Identify the displayed label that represents the broadest Photos access under review on this iPhone.

What Makes This Current Evidence

The direct Photos settings show each app's current permission label. The owner's answers explain whether that permission still has a purpose.

Switch back to audit-notes.txt.
Create one entry under Apps for every app showing the broadest access label under review.
Record the app name plus the exact Photos access label displayed on the iPhone.
Ask the owner whether they still use each app plus whether its Photos access is needed.
Record both owner answers beside the matching app.
Return to the Photos permission list.
Compare the number of recorded broad-Photos apps with the matching rows on the iPhone.

That careful pass gives you a current Photos inventory without guessing at permission labels.

Unsure Which Photos Label Is Broadest?

Use only the labels displayed on the owner's iPhone. Keep the wording exactly as shown in the Photos permission list.

Ask for help interpreting the visible choices without sharing app names or account details: Help me understand how to identify the broadest Photos permission from the labels visible on my iPhone.

Complete the app evidence baseline

The Always setting permits location access while an app is in the background. Recording every app with this setting gives the owner a complete list to review.

Return to the Settings app.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap Location Services.
Review every app shown in the Location Services list.
Identify every app currently set to Always.

What Does Always Mean?

The Always option permits location access even when the app is running in the background. The owner decides whether each app still needs that level of access.

Switch back to audit-notes.txt.
Add one entry under Apps for every app currently set to Always.
Record each app name plus its exact Always label.
Ask the owner whether they still use each app plus whether background location access is needed.
Record both owner answers beside the matching app.
Return to the Location Services list.
Compare the number of recorded Always apps with the matching rows on the iPhone.

Domain names can add limited behavioral context to apps already flagged by direct permission settings. They cannot prove tracking or wrongdoing.

Return to the Settings app.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap App Privacy Report.
Inspect available App Network Activity data only for apps already flagged by the Photos or Location Services review.
Switch back to audit-notes.txt.
Record available domain names beneath the matching flagged app.
Omit full URLs plus timestamps from every domain entry.
Leave unrelated apps out of the domain inventory.

What Can a Domain Prove?

A contacted domain is evidence of network activity during the report period. It does not reveal why the contact occurred.

Keep domains as supporting context for owner review. Current permission labels remain the source of truth for access.

Before-and-after validation needs a clear starting point. Four baseline totals make later privacy changes measurable.

Record the total number of device aliases beside signed-in devices under Baseline Counts.
Record the number of devices the owner does not recognize beside unrecognized devices.
Record the number of reviewed apps with the broadest Photos access beside broad-Photos apps.
Record the number of apps set to Always beside Always-location apps.

Before the final recount, predict whether each baseline total will match the entries above it.

Count every neutral alias under Devices before comparing it with the signed-in device baseline.
Count every unrecognized-device answer before comparing it with the unrecognized device baseline.
Count every reviewed broad-Photos entry before comparing it with the broad-Photos baseline.
Count every Always location entry before comparing it with the Always-location baseline.

You have turned three sensitive settings screens into a redacted baseline the owner can verify. Each total should match its corresponding entries in audit-notes.txt.

Your redacted access inventory is complete. Next, Claude Code can organize this evidence into read-only recommendations for the owner to review.

Generate Read-Only Recommendations

Your redacted inventory now captures the evidence from the iPhone's direct settings. The next challenge is turning those entries into consistent recommendations without handing over the owner's judgment.

Claude Code can organize this evidence without deciding which changes happen. A strict prompt limits the task while dontAsk blocks tool calls that would normally ask for approval.

In this step, get ready to:

Set Terminal's working directory to family-photo-audit.
Generate a confidence-labeled recommendation table in restricted mode.
Record only the recommendation labels accepted by the owner.

Move Terminal into the audit folder

A working directory tells Claude Code which folder is in scope. You will point Terminal at the one redacted folder created for this audit.

Return to the Terminal window from the setup step.
Type cd followed by one space.
In Finder, select Documents in the sidebar.
Drag family-photo-audit from Finder into Terminal.

Dragging the folder can feel fiddly the first time. You will see its full path appear after cd in Terminal.

Press Return in Terminal.

Terminal returns to its prompt with family-photo-audit as the working directory.

Did the folder path look wrong?

Check that the dragged path ends with family-photo-audit.
Make sure there is one space after cd before the folder path.

Why did dragging the audit folder into Terminal produce the wrong path?

Generate a restricted recommendation table

A permission mode controls which tool calls Claude Code can make. In dontAsk mode, every call that would normally request approval is denied automatically.

The command starts an interactive Claude Code session in the current Terminal window. Keep this window available for the rest of the step.

Start the restricted Claude Code session by running this command:

claude --permission-mode dontAsk

What does this command do?

claude starts Claude Code inside the current working directory.
--permission-mode dontAsk denies tool calls that would otherwise pause for approval.
File reads inside the working directory can still run without an approval prompt.

Check the status bar for don't ask on.

You will see don't ask on in the status bar. This confirms the restricted permission mode is active.

Don't see the restricted status?

Confirm the Claude Code session started inside family-photo-audit.
Rerun the command above if the status bar does not show the restricted mode.

Why is the restricted Claude Code status missing from my session?

The audit prompt defines the evidence boundary. It asks Claude to organize current permissions while keeping domain contacts in their limited behavioral context.

Before you send the prompt, do you think a contacted domain can justify a removal recommendation by itself?

Paste this prompt into the Claude Code session:

Read only audit-notes.txt. Do not modify files, execute shell commands, or use the web.

Create a concise recommendation table with these columns:
Item | Evidence | Recommendation | Confidence | Owner check

Use only these recommendations: Keep, Reduce, Remove, Verify Manually.
Treat the owner’s recognition and six-month-use answers as authoritative statements, not machine-derived dates.
Never infer a last-seen date. Never claim that a contacted domain proves tracking or wrongdoing.
Separate current permissions from App Privacy Report behavior.
Finish with the baseline counts already present in the file and a short list of changes for the owner to consider.

How does this prompt protect the audit?

The opening boundary limits Claude to reading audit-notes.txt.
The requested columns keep evidence separate from recommendations.
The allowed labels make each recommendation consistent.
The owner statements remain authoritative because Claude cannot invent activity dates.
The domain rule prevents network context from becoming an unsupported accusation.

Press Return to submit the prompt.

Claude displays a concise table with the five requested headers. Each recommendation uses one of the four allowed labels.

The response keeps contacted domains as context. It does not present them as proof of tracking or wrongdoing.

Return to audit-notes.txt in TextEdit.
Compare the completed inventory sections with the entries from the previous step.
Check that Recommended Changes remains empty.

The unchanged file confirms Claude only read the redacted inventory. The recommendation table exists in Terminal without replacing your notes.

Didn't receive the requested table?

Confirm the prompt was submitted inside the active Claude Code session.
Check that audit-notes.txt is inside family-photo-audit.
Restart the restricted session from the audit folder if Claude cannot access the file.

Why didn't Claude Code produce the requested recommendation table?

Record only owner-approved labels

Confidence labels help organize uncertainty. The iPhone owner remains the authority on recognition, recent use, necessity, and every future settings change.

Review each recommendation row with the owner.
Ask the owner to correct any mistaken assumption verbally.
In TextEdit, locate Recommended Changes.
Manually type each recommendation label accepted by the owner.
Keep the accepted labels in the same item order as Claude's table.
Leave every disputed recommendation out of the section.
Save audit-notes.txt.

Before you compare the final state, which window should contain the full recommendation table?

Return to the Claude Code session in Terminal.
Confirm the status bar still shows don't ask on.
Confirm the table uses the five requested headers.
Review the session transcript for any shell action, web action, file edit, or account action.
Return to audit-notes.txt in TextEdit.
Check that Recommended Changes contains only the accepted labels.
Check that Final Counts remains empty.

That's the judgment boundary secured. Claude organized the evidence while the owner alone decided what entered the audit.

Your audit now contains a small set of owner-accepted recommendation labels. Next, the owner can apply selected changes in Apple settings and measure the result.

Apply Approved Fixes and Recount

Your read-only Claude Code review turned the redacted inventory into owner-checked recommendations. The iPhone still reflects the baseline settings.

Now the owner applies only the accepted changes. You will recount the same four categories to prove the visible result.

In this step, get ready to:

Review connected devices with the owner.
Reduce selected Photos access and Location Services access.
Recount every category from the baseline.

Review connected devices

Safety Check lets the owner review devices connected to the account. Every removal still depends on the owner's personal approval.

Device Removal Changes Account Access

Removing a device can feel drastic. A removed device loses access to iCloud.

It also loses access to Find My. The owner controls the final confirmation.

✔️ Safety Check is available

Switch back to Settings on the iPhone.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap Safety Check.
Tap Manage Sharing & Access.
Review the connected devices with the owner.
Select only devices the owner does not recognize or no longer uses.
Review Apple's confirmation message for each selected device.
Approve each removal only after the owner says to proceed.

ⓧ Safety Check is unavailable

Some restrictions can make Safety Check unavailable. The direct Apple Account device list provides the fallback path.

Return to Settings.
Tap the owner's name.
Scroll through the complete device list.
Match the selected device to its neutral alias in audit-notes.txt.
Tap only a device the owner does not recognize or no longer uses.
Review Apple's confirmation message with the owner.
Ask the owner to approve or reject the removal.
Tap Remove from Account only after the owner approves.

Return to Settings after the device review.
Tap the owner's name.
Scroll through the complete device list again.

You should see the device list match the owner's decisions. Any removed entry should be one the owner selected.

Did a Removed Device Return?

A removed device can reappear if it remains signed in when it reconnects. Review that device with the owner before taking another action.

Help me understand why a removed Apple Account device reappeared and what the owner should check.

Reduce app access

App permissions should match the owner's current use. Safety Check can turn off selected third-party access to Photos or Location Services.

Return to Privacy & Security in Settings.
Tap Safety Check if it is available.
Tap Manage Sharing & Access if it is available.
Review third-party app access with the owner.
Turn off only entries that match the owner's accepted recommendations.

Why Use Direct Settings?

Safety Check supports turning off third-party access. Direct Photos and Location Services settings show the granular options available for each app.

Return to Privacy & Security in Settings.
Tap Location Services.
Tap an app selected for a location reduction.
Ask the owner which displayed option matches the app's intended use.
Choose While Using the App, Never, or another displayed option the owner approves.

You should see each changed app display the location option selected by the owner.

Do You See Fewer Location Options?

Some apps offer only two location choices. The available options depend on the app.

Choose only from the options displayed on the owner's iPhone.

Help me choose the least access needed from the location options displayed for this app.

Return to Privacy & Security.
Tap Photos.
Tap an app selected for a Photos access reduction.
Ask the owner which lower displayed access level matches the app's intended use.
Choose the lower access level approved by the owner.

You should see each changed app display the lower Photos access level selected by the owner.

Does the Photos Label Look Different?

Photos access labels can vary across supported iOS versions. The labels displayed on this iPhone are the source of truth.

Record the exact displayed label after the owner chooses it.

Help me interpret the Photos access options displayed on this iPhone without assuming a label that is missing.

Verify final counts

Before-and-after validation ties every recommendation to a measurable result. The direct Apple settings remain the source of truth.

Before you recount, consider which of the four categories you expect to change.

Return to the Apple Account device list from earlier.
Count all signed-in devices.
Count the devices the owner does not recognize.
Return to the Photos privacy settings from earlier.
Count the apps still showing the broadest Photos access under review.
Return to the Location Services settings from earlier.
Count the apps still set to Always.

What Does the Recount Measure?

The recount checks the same four categories used for the baseline. This keeps the comparison consistent.

Switch back to audit-notes.txt in TextEdit from earlier.
Enter the four confirmed values under Final Counts.
Record only changes confirmed on the reopened settings screens.
Keep uncertain items labeled Verify Manually.
Compare each final count with its matching value under Baseline Counts.
Save audit-notes.txt using TextEdit's save control.

You should see a confirmed final value for each of the four baseline categories. Any decrease should match a visible owner-approved change.

A count can stay the same when the owner keeps the current access.

That's the audit closed. Every applied change has owner approval. The final counts now show the measured privacy change.

Secret mission

Create a Confidence-Aware Risk Score

Your unresolved rows all say Verify Manually. A transparent score will show which items deserve attention first without turning weak signals into proof. You will make every point reproducible and schedule a seven-day follow-up.

Clean Up Your Resources

Only Claude Pro has an ongoing project cost at $20 per month plus applicable tax until cancellation. Decide whether to keep your audit for its seven-day follow-up, pause your work, or delete the project's local and iPhone resources.

Cost warning

If you started Claude Pro for this project, pausing Claude Code does not stop subscription billing. The Delete option below includes the cancellation steps that stop future renewals.

Resources you used:

The redacted Documents/family-photo-audit folder containing audit-notes.txt.
Local Claude Code project state associated with Documents/family-photo-audit.
The enabled App Privacy Report with on-device report data.
A monthly Claude Pro subscription if you activated one for this project.

Keep everything running

No action is needed. Choose this option if the owner plans to complete the seven-day follow-up for unresolved apps.

Keep the Documents/family-photo-audit folder for future comparisons.
Leave App Privacy Report enabled to collect behavior context for the follow-up.
Retain the local Claude Code project state for another read-only review.
Continue Claude Pro only if you plan to use its paid access beyond this audit.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Close Claude Code to end the active session while keeping the redacted audit for later. Claude Pro continues billing until you cancel it.

Close the Claude Code session in the Terminal window from earlier.
Keep the Documents/family-photo-audit folder in Documents.
Leave App Privacy Report enabled if the owner still wants the seven-day follow-up.
Review your Claude Pro subscription before the next monthly renewal.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

These actions permanently remove the redacted audit plus its local Claude Code state. Turning off App Privacy Report also clears its on-device report data.

Switch back to a shell prompt in the macOS Terminal window from earlier.
Remove the local Claude Code project state by running this command:

claude purge

What Does This Command Remove?

This command opens an interactive project picker. It removes the local Claude Code state for the project you select.

Select Documents/family-photo-audit from the interactive project picker.
Confirm removal for the selected project.

The local Claude Code project state is now removed. Your redacted folder remains until the next cleanup action.

Delete the redacted audit folder by running this command:

rm -rf ~/Documents/family-photo-audit

What Does This Deletion Remove?

This command permanently removes the family-photo-audit folder from Documents. It also removes the redacted audit-notes.txt file inside it.

Return to Documents in Finder from earlier.
Confirm that family-photo-audit no longer appears.

Folder Still Listed?

Check that the command uses ~/Documents/family-photo-audit exactly. Use help me remove the audit folder safely if the folder remains.

Turning off App Privacy Report clears its report data from the iPhone. The owner gets one final chance to keep the data for the seven-day follow-up.

Return to iPhone Settings from earlier.
Select Privacy & Security.
Select App Privacy Report.
Ask the owner whether they still need the seven-day follow-up.
Use the control at the bottom of the report screen to turn App Privacy Report off after the owner chooses deletion.
Confirm that the screen offers Turn on App Privacy Report again.

If you activated Claude Pro for this project, cancellation stops future monthly renewals. Your local audit cleanup does not cancel the subscription.

Return to Claude on the web from earlier.
Open Settings.
Select Billing.
Select Cancel.
Complete the cancellation prompts.
Confirm that the subscription no longer has a future renewal.

Nice Work!

You did it! You built a privacy-safe family photo audit that keeps the iPhone owner in control of every settings change.

You've learned how to:

Build a redacted inventory of signed-in devices. Record current permissions separately from recent app behavior.
Use Claude Code in dontAsk mode to produce confidence-labeled recommendations without granting write or account-change approval.
Apply only owner-approved privacy fixes in Apple settings. Prove each improvement with exact before-and-after counts.
Secret Mission: Add a reproducible personal triage score with visible arithmetic. Schedule a seven-day follow-up for items marked Verify Manually.

Ready to quiz yourself?