Apple says its announcement of automated tools to detect child sexual abuse on the iPhone and iPad was "jumbled pretty badly".

Axar.az reports that on 5 August, the company revealed new image detection software that can alert Apple if known illegal images are uploaded to its iCloud storage.

Privacy groups criticised the news, with some saying Apple had created a security backdoor in its software.

The company says its announcement had been widely "misunderstood".

"We wish that this had come out a little more clearly for everyone," said Apple software chief Craig Federighi, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

He said that - in hindsight - introducing two features at the same time was "a recipe for this kind of confusion".