Jan 07, 2025 07:00:00

Apple's secret addition of 'enhanced visual search' that sends photos without permission is criticized as an infringement of privacy

In iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, Apple has introduced ' Enhanced Visual Search ,' which automatically recognizes buildings and landmarks in photos. This enhanced visual search is enabled by default without the user's knowledge, and software engineer Jeff Johnson has sounded a warning because it is a function that checks data against Apple's servers.

Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/12/3.html

The internet is full of experts
https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/12/4.html

Is your iPhone sharing photos data with Apple by default? - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/29/24331354/ios-18-sending-photos-data-apple-enhanced-visual-search-opt-out-landmark-lookup

Johnson reports that while checking his iPhone's settings, he discovered a new setting in the Photos app called 'Enhanced Visual Search' that was enabled by default without users' knowledge.

This enhanced visual search has also been confirmed on macOS Sequoia.

Apple hasn't promoted the new feature, and few media outlets have covered it. However, Apple has provided two main explanations on its official website:

First, the

Photos and Privacy section explains, 'Enhanced Visual Search in Photos lets you find photos using landmarks and points of interest. It matches the location of your photos on your device against a global index maintained on Apple servers. It applies homomorphic encryption and differential privacy, and uses an OHTTP relay that doesn't reveal your IP address. This means Apple doesn't know any information about your photos.'

In addition, a blog post published on October 24 describes the implementation of an encryption scheme called Brakerski-Fan-Vercauteren (BFV), which is said to be suitable for computations common in machine learning workflows, and provides detailed numerical values for differential privacy parameters for privacy protection of augmented visual search.

Johnson honestly admitted that even he, who has 18 years of experience developing Apple platforms, could not fully understand Apple's technical explanation, and raised the question of how many people in the world can truly understand this content. Furthermore, he pointed out that the blog post containing this detailed technical explanation was published on October 24, long after the actual feature was released on September 16.

In response to Apple's claim that data is protected by advanced encryption technology, Johnson argued that 'privacy is only maintained when the data is contained within the device, and complete privacy is lost when the data is sent to Apple, the manufacturer.' He also pointed out that Apple's software has always had a history of privacy and security vulnerabilities, and that even the mere existence of a bug could make users vulnerable, and that Apple's quality control has deteriorated in recent years.

Johnson also expressed strong concerns about user choice, saying that each user should decide their own tolerance for the risk of privacy violations. 'I don't see the value in the enhanced visual search feature, so even the smallest risk is unacceptable to me,' he said.

Johnson pointed out that Apple's advertising, 'What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone,' is not true. He also pointed out that while macOS allows users to control an app's network communications with a tool called Little Snitch, iOS does not allow such control, and argued that Apple is actively hindering users' ability to protect themselves.

When The Verge asked Apple about Johnson's concerns, the company did not respond to a request for comment.