If you’re using iOS 18 on your iPhone, a new feature may be silently sharing your Photos app data with Apple. The default setting for Enhanced Visual Search allows Apple to collect and analyze photo interactions to enhance its search capabilities. While Apple claims this process is secure and maintains privacy, the feature has raised questions about its transparency and privacy policies.
Here’s what you need to know about Enhanced Visual Search and how to disable it if you’re concerned.
What is Enhanced Visual Search?
Enhanced Visual Search is a feature designed to make searching your photos easier and smarter. It uses on-device machine learning (ML) to help identify landmarks and other popular spots within your photo library.
According to Apple, this feature “privately matches places in your photos with a global index maintained by Apple.” However, the process involves sharing encrypted photo data with Apple by default, enabling the company to enhance search results.
While Apple emphasizes the use of homomorphic encryption and OHTTP relay to hide users’ IP addresses and ensure data security, the default activation of this feature has left some users feeling uneasy about their privacy.
How to Disable Enhanced Visual Search
If you’re concerned about Apple accessing your Photos app data, disabling Enhanced Visual Search is straightforward:
- Open the Settings App: On your iPhone, launch the Settings app.
- Go to Photos: Navigate to Apps and select Photos.
- Turn Off Enhanced Visual Search: Locate the Enhanced Visual Search option and toggle it off.
Disabling this feature will prevent your photo data from being shared with Apple but may limit your ability to use the AI-driven search functionality.
Privacy vs. Functionality
Apple has maintained that its approach to Enhanced Visual Search is privacy-focused, relying on advanced encryption methods to analyze photo data securely. However, users who prioritize absolute privacy may find the feature unsettling.
By disabling Enhanced Visual Search, you can ensure that your photo data stays completely private, albeit at the cost of losing AI-driven search capabilities.