The Recent Alarm About Apple’s Privacy Turns Out to Be a Big Overreaction, But Here’s How to Disable Enhanced Visual Search on Your Phone (If You Want To).
It's really not necessary to turn it off.
Recently, social media, especially Facebook, has started to see posts warning about an alleged new Apple feature that automatically activates an analysis of user photos through artificial intelligence. This situation recalls a phenomenon that went viral in 2024, where users posted claims about restricting Facebook's access to their photos, stating that they did not authorize META or any associated entity to use their information.
Although these posts contain an element of truth, the reality is that the privacy risk posed is exaggerated. In the case of Apple, there is a feature called Enhanced Visual Search, which indeed sends photos from the iPhone for analysis. However, this feature, which is enabled by default, is designed to match locations in photos with a global index of locations maintained by Apple, without the company accessing the images. Thus, if one finds themselves in a famous location, the system can automatically tag the place without violating the user's privacy.
Apple published a policy document in November 2024, explaining that the enhanced visual search feature allows users to search for photos based on points of interest, and that they use encryption techniques that safeguard user privacy. The concern about this feature being a security threat seems to be disproportionate; any user who wishes to disable this option can easily do so through their iPhone or Mac settings.
Regarding privacy, Apple is going through a complicated time, as it had to deny rumors about selling customer data for advertising purposes after reaching a settlement in a $95 million class-action lawsuit. The company reaffirmed that it has never used Siri data to create marketing profiles or sold it for advertising purposes. However, rumors persist, and many people continue to believe that their devices listen to conversations to show them related ads, although these ideas are often due to coincidences and confirmation biases.
Despite these controversies, one can choose not to disable enhanced visual search or worry about whether the iPhone is spying, while Apple reinforces its commitment to user privacy.
