Overview

• Enhanced Visual Search, introduced in iOS 18 and macOS 15, expands on Apple's Visual Look Up by identifying landmarks and points of interest in photos.
• The feature shares photo data with Apple by default, a move criticized for bypassing user consent and raising privacy concerns.
• Apple claims the data is encrypted and anonymized, using techniques like differential privacy and IP masking to protect user information.
• Developer Jeff Johnson argues the opt-out design undermines user autonomy and Apple's prior commitment to on-device privacy.
• Users can disable the feature through device settings to prevent photo data from being shared with Apple's servers.