"Enhanced visual search" - privacy compromised?

[UliBaer]

There is a new feature "Enhanced visual search" in iOS 18, that is per default enabled, that kind of scans your photos. You can later disable this feature, but that only works for photos taken after the switch. All photos, that were already on your device when you installed iOS 18 would then already be scanned!

A company that really cares about privacy would instead disable this feature per default and let the user decide, but this is the Apple way, as usual...

See also here:
https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/12/3.html

Also here (Sorry article is in German):

Nutzer verärgert: iOS 18 schickt Bilddaten ohne Opt-in an Apple

Damit sich persönliche Fotos nach Wahrzeichen durchsuchen lassen, gleicht iOS Bilddaten mit Apple-Servern ab. Ein Opt-out macht das offenbar nicht rückgängig.

www.heise.de

 

[I7guy]

I disagree. It’s all on device? Why pick at nits?

Searching Photos

Enhanced Visual Search in Photos allows you to search for photos using landmarks or points of interest. Your device privately matches places in your photos to a global index Apple maintains on our servers. We apply homomorphic encryption and differential privacy, and use an OHTTP relay that hides IP address. This prevents Apple from learning about the information in your photos. You can turn off Enhanced Visual Search at any time on your iOS or iPadOS device by going to Settings > Apps > Photos. On Mac, open Photos and go to Settings > General.

 

[Speed38]

Need to do the same thing on your iPad, should you have one. And it's included in Photos.app / Settings also.

 

[UliBaer]

I disagree. It’s all on device? Why pick at nits?

Well, i prefer to see it like the author of the linked article:

(...)
Of course, this user never requested that my on-device experiences be "enriched" by phoning home to Cupertino. This choice was made by Apple, silently, without my consent.

From my own perspective, computing privacy is simple: if something happens entirely on my computer, then it's private, whereas if my computer sends data to the manufacturer of the computer, then it's not private, or at least not entirely private. Thus, the only way to guarantee computing privacy is to not send data off the device. (...)

 

[I7guy]

Well, i prefer to see it like the author of the linked article:

The way I see it as long as privacy is not compromised and you have an option to turn some function off, I don’t have an issue with it. Of course, ymmv. It always has been Apple does what it thinks is best for the entirety of its user base.

 

[UliBaer]

Need to do the same thing on your iPad, should you have one. And it's included in Photos.app / Settings also.

You also have to switch it off on your Mac - mainly on all gadgets handling photos in your Apple zoo.

[edit]
But remember: The whole thing already happened when you updated to iOS 18 - without consent!

 

[KaliYoni]

Here is another, detailed article by a software developer that I saw about this issue a few days ago (I too have switched off Enhanced Visual Search):

Your device privately matches places in your photos to a global index Apple maintains on our servers.
[...]
From my own perspective, computing privacy is simple: if something happens entirely on my computer, then it's private, whereas if my computer sends data to the manufacturer of the computer, then it's not private, or at least not entirely private. Thus, the only way to guarantee computing privacy is to not send data off the device.
[...]
It ought to be up to the individual user to decide their own tolerance for the risk of privacy violations. In this specific case, I have no tolerance for risk, because I simply have no interest in the Enhanced Visual Search feature, even if it happened to work flawlessly. There's no benefit to outweigh the risk. By enabling the "feature" without asking, Apple disrespects users and their preferences. I never wanted my iPhone to phone home to Apple.

Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

 

[TheIntruder]

Boy, that CES billboard has come back to haunt Apple again and again…

Personally, I try to be cognizant about privacy issues, and think that too many people overlook it today in such a connected world, but to me this is more a tempest in a teapot. The just settled lawsuit where Apple's human contractors were listening to people's Siri conversations would concern me more (though I don't use Siri).

Should Apple have made it an opt-in feature? Won't disagree about that.

But it's not exactly a revelation that Apple's software phones home, a lot, and it shouldn't be, especially to a developer.

In that respect, he's being too dramatic, and doesn't provide any context, which implies that this is some sort of new, and sole sin Apple is committing with this feature.

He also admits that he doesn't entirely understand how this feature works, and brushes off the documentation Apple provides, which albeit not great, does show that they've at least considered the privacy implications in its implementation.

Then, when called out on these things, got defensive, which only served to fan just a smoldering ember. He got his 15 minutes, I suppose…

If you take Apple's billboard, and its marketing slogans literally, then yes, Apple has not been truthful. But unless you ride turnip trucks for fun, or buy bridges in your spare time, who does? For any marketing?

The company is far from perfect, and despite a carefully cultivated image, is still a for-profit mega corporation that looks after itself first, and then its customers, to the extent that it will still allow it to make attractive products for huge sums of profits.

There is also a class of hate users, and hate developers whose specialty seems to be picking on this company they despite, yet continue to use its products, and try to make a living from them.

Calling Apple out for its problems is not a issue, and deserved in many cases, but when it becomes all consuming, at what point does one develop some sort of principle, or backbone to take a real stand and stop being a part of it?

A more carefully considered, less alarmist initial post would not have required a follow up, but at least he made that effort.

 

[macfacts]

though I don't use Siri

The people that has their conversations recorded don't use Siri either, the iPhone was recording when it shouldn't have.

 

[McScooby]

The way I see it as long as privacy is not compromised and you have an option to turn some function off, I don’t have an issue with it. Of course, ymmv. It always has been Apple does what it thinks is best for the entirety of its user base.

How is it private if Apple maintains the database - the database of what & where did they get the pictures, look around locations only, somehow doubtful given how not complete it is?

 

[radow]

Apple is never about total privacy. They do have a higher standard than, let's say Meta and OpenAI, but not by much. Apple would happily push opt-out technologies they view as "privacy-preserving" for "better experience", and with Apple Intelligence gradually rolling out, it's coming more than ever.

The question to be asked is how much do you trust Apple, with your data, their intention and all these stacks of infrastructure implemented. If this mechanism really works as intended, then it does preserve user privacy. state-of-the-art, even. But

- How could you verify it?
- Why isn't it opt-in?
- Why do we need this to begin with?

If someone is concerned with any of these, I think now is a good time to reevaluate their relationship with the Apple ecosystem. There are alternatives, while not work like Apple-ecosystem-magic, might be more aligned with user interests.

 

[I7guy]

Apple is never about total privacy. They do have a higher standard than, let's say Meta and OpenAI, but not by much. Apple would happily push opt-out technologies they view as "privacy-preserving" for "better experience", and with Apple Intelligence gradually rolling out, it's coming more than ever.

The question to be asked is how much do you trust Apple, with your data, their intention and all these stacks of infrastructure implemented. If this mechanism really works as intended, then it does preserve user privacy. state-of-the-art, even. But

- How could you verify it?
- Why isn't it opt-in?
- Why do we need this to begin with?

If someone is concerned with any of these, I think now is a good time to reevaluate their relationship with the Apple ecosystem. There are alternatives, while not work like Apple-ecosystem-magic, might be more aligned with user interests.

Good thoughts. I trust Apple with my data. I'm not worried about verification, but would welcome some third party to do so. I'm okay with having functionality that adds to the total package enabled by default. But as always, YMMV.