Apple’s new Enhanced Visual Search feature, automatically enabled in iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, is sparking user frustration, not over its functionality, but its opt-in approach. While the feature, which uses homomorphic encryption and other privacy safeguards to match photos with landmarks and points of interest, aims to improve photo searching, its automatic activation is proving contentious.
Many users, particularly those prioritizing privacy, object to the default enabled setting. One Reddit post garnering over 1,600 upvotes highlighted this sentiment, with a user criticizing the automatic activation as a “typical shitty corpo movement,” urging others to review their privacy settings across all services. This reflects a broader concern regarding the importance of explicit user consent for data-collecting features.
Apple’s privacy statement clarifies that Enhanced Visual Search employs homomorphic encryption, differential privacy, and an OHTTP relay to obscure IP addresses and prevent the company from directly accessing photo content. While some users acknowledge these safeguards, as noted in the same Reddit thread, the automatic activation remains a point of contention. One user argued that while the privacy measures are comprehensive, the default enabled setting is problematic, even if many users already utilize similar iCloud search functionalities.
Disabling Enhanced Visual Search is possible; users can easily toggle it off in the Photos settings on both iPhones and Macs. On iPhones, navigate to Settings > Apps > Photos, and on Macs, go to Photos > Settings > General. Despite the clear disabling process, the initial automatic activation continues to fuel the debate about user consent and data privacy in the tech industry.