Apple has postponed plans to deploy out detecting equipment that would have scanned iPhones in the United States for evidence of child sexual abuse.
It comes after a barrage of criticism from privacy advocates and others who feared that on-device tracking would set a dangerous precedent.
Apple stated that it had considered the unfavorable criticism and will revisit its decision.
There were concerns that authoritarian nations might misuse the system.
Images would have been scanned just before being uploaded to iCloud Photos using the so-called NeuralHash technology.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's database would then have matched them against known child sexual abuse material.
If a match was identified, a human would have carefully reviewed it and, if necessary, taken measures to disable a user's account and report it to police enforcement.
It was supposed to come out later this year.
"Last month, we revealed plans for features to help safeguard children from predators who use communication tools to recruit and exploit them, as well as limit the dissemination of child sexual abuse material," Apple stated in a statement.
"We have decided to take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements before launching these critically essential kid safety features, based on feedback from consumers, advocacy groups, researchers, and others."
Privacy advocates are concerned that the technology could be developed and used to spy on citizens by authoritarian governments.
The Electronic Frontiers Foundation has been one of the most outspoken critics of the system, collecting 25,000 signatures on a petition against the move.
"The corporation must go further than just listening," executive director Cindy Cohn told the BBC, "and drop its ambitions to insert a backdoor into its encryption totally."
"The massive coalition that has spoken out will continue to demand that user phones be protected, including both messages and images, and that the corporation keep its pledge to guarantee real privacy to its customers."
Apple has previously advocated for privacy and end-to-end encryption.