Apple iPhones Running On iOS 18 Reportedly Sharing Your Private Photo Data, Here's How You Can Turn It Off

While Apple doesn't access full photo files, this feature effectively scans all images in the gallery, raising concerns about how much data is shared when the option is active.

Developer Jeff Johnson disclosed that a feature called "Enhanced Visual Search," automatically enabled on iPhones running iOS 18 and Macs with macOS Sequoia, shares photo data with Apple without explicit user consent.

Source : Apple

The world is evolving, and so is the field of cyberattacks. In this ever evolving world, the topic of privacy is often talked about. Some people take it very seriously, and some have a chill approach towards it. The name Apple is one that has always been a part of the topic of privacy. It has long been championed as the company that makes the safest smartphones in the market.

Apple has long emphasised its commitment to user privacy across its products and services, even launching the "Privacy. That's Apple" campaign in 2019. However, a recent revelation by developer Jeff Johnson has cast doubt on this narrative. In a blog post dated December 28, Johnson disclosed that a feature called "Enhanced Visual Search," automatically enabled on iPhones running iOS 18 and Macs with macOS Sequoia, shares photo data with Apple without explicit user consent.

This functionality is designed to help users identify landmarks in photos and provide contextual information. It works in two stages: first, an on-device machine learning model scans the photo to identify regions of interest (ROI), such as landmarks. It then creates a vector embedding, which is sent to Apple for comparison with its database to determine the landmark. While Apple doesn't access full photo files, this feature effectively scans all images in the gallery, raising concerns about how much data is shared when the option is active.

Here's How You Can Disable Enhanced Visual Search

On iPhone:

• Go to Settings
• Click on Apps
• Click on Photos
• Scroll down to the bottom and disable Enhanced Visual Search

On Mac:

• Open the Photos app
• Go to Settings and disable Enhanced Visual Search