There is no U.S. law that requires Apple to scan your uploaded content for CSAM and share reports with law enforcement. If such a law existed, it would almost c

There is no U.S. law that requires Apple to scan your uploaded content for CSAM and share reports with law enforcement. If such a law existed, it would almost certainly be a major 4th amendment concern. Instead Apple chooses to do server-side scanning "voluntarily" (which means, they do it under considerable pressure from law enforcement agencies and politicians) after making you click Agree on a ToS that gives them permission to do so. Similarly, I am not aware of any constitutional rule that prevents a private company like Apple from installing client-side software into your phone OS that scans the local photos on your private device even if you never upload them, as long they don't do the scanning at the government's direct behest and you give them permission by agreeing to their ToS. The important constitutional principle here is "is this private company acting as an agent of the government." The important civil principle is: "do we, as citizens and customers, want our government and phone manufacturers to scan private files and submit automatic police reports." Once you've decided those questions, the physical/logical location of the files is a detail that only we nerds care about.