diff --git a/posthog-react-native/CHANGELOG.md b/posthog-react-native/CHANGELOG.md
index fcc7d342..100c0b9e 100644
--- a/posthog-react-native/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/posthog-react-native/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Next
 
+# 3.5.0 - 2024-12-03
+
+1. fix: deprecate maskPhotoLibraryImages due to unintended masking issues
+
 # 3.4.0 - 2024-11-26
 
 1. feat: automatically mask out user photos and sandboxed views like photo picker (iOS Only)
diff --git a/posthog-react-native/package.json b/posthog-react-native/package.json
index f76b3e65..9ada5d22 100644
--- a/posthog-react-native/package.json
+++ b/posthog-react-native/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "posthog-react-native",
-  "version": "3.4.0",
+  "version": "3.5.0",
   "main": "lib/posthog-react-native/index.js",
   "files": [
     "lib/"
diff --git a/posthog-react-native/src/posthog-rn.ts b/posthog-react-native/src/posthog-rn.ts
index 7770b7a7..93a0f686 100644
--- a/posthog-react-native/src/posthog-rn.ts
+++ b/posthog-react-native/src/posthog-rn.ts
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ export class PostHog extends PostHogCore {
       maskAllTextInputs = true,
       maskAllImages = true,
       maskAllSandboxedViews = true,
-      maskPhotoLibraryImages = true,
+      maskPhotoLibraryImages = false,
       captureLog = true,
       captureNetworkTelemetry = true,
       iOSdebouncerDelayMs = 1000,
diff --git a/posthog-react-native/src/types.ts b/posthog-react-native/src/types.ts
index 997ad8f3..6fff5605 100644
--- a/posthog-react-native/src/types.ts
+++ b/posthog-react-native/src/types.ts
@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@ export type PostHogSessionReplayConfig = {
    * Enable masking of images that likely originated from user's photo library
    * Experimental support (UIKit only)
    * iOS only
-   * Default: true
+   * Default: false
+   *
+   * @deprecated This property has no effect and will be removed in the next major release. To learn how to manually mask user photos please see our Privacy controls documentation: https://posthog.com/docs/session-replay/privacy?tab=React+Native
    */
   maskPhotoLibraryImages?: boolean
   /**