A developer has revealed that Apple’s Photos app shares photos from your iPhone with the company by default, as part of a new iOS 18 feature called Enhanced Visual Search.
This new feature builds upon the previous Visual Look Up capability, which identifies objects within your images. However, a privacy note in the Settings app suggests that it may transmit more data to Apple …
Visual Look Up
Visual Look Up (VLU) is an earlier feature designed to recognize elements in your pictures to provide related information. For instance, if you capture an image of a dog, it will try to identify the breed.
VLU can recognize a variety of subjects, from flowers to famous landmarks, and can even interpret laundry care symbols or diagnose issues with your vehicle.
This feature was first launched with iOS 15, and at that time, Apple stated that it transmits “limited” data to their servers.
When you utilize […] Visual Look Up […] only minimal information will be sent to Apple to generate the freshest suggestions. Any data sent does not identify you and is linked to a randomly generated device identifier that changes every 15 minutes.
Apple specifies that this may include location information.
Enhanced Visual Search
Enhanced Visual Search (EVS) is, as the name implies, a refined version of the original feature. Developer Jeff Johnson pointed out in a blog that it has a unique privacy note, indicating that it transmits additional data.
You can find the EVS-specific privacy statement in the Settings app:
Settings > Apps > Photos > Scroll to the bottom
The message states:
Permit this device to privately match locations in your photos with a global index maintained by Apple, allowing you to search for nearly any landmark or point of interest.
Johnson’s blog post takes a strong stance, criticizing the default activation of EVS.
This user did not choose to have my on-device experiences “enhanced” by sending data back to Cupertino. This decision was made by Apple, without my knowledge or consent.
In my view, computing privacy is straightforward: if something is processed entirely on my device, it remains private; if my device transmits data to the manufacturer, it loses that privacy, or at least some of it […] By enabling this “feature” without my approval, Apple disregards users and their choices. I never consented to having my iPhone communicate with Apple.
Do you recall this advertisement? “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.” That turned out to be false.
DMN’s Take
While it’s notable that Apple feels the need to specifically delineate the data transmitted by EVS, the company seemingly prioritizes our privacy with it just as it does with VLU.
Enhanced Visual Search in Photos enables you to search for images utilizing landmarks or points of interest. Your device conducts a private match between places in your photos and a global index that Apple maintains on its servers. We employ homomorphic encryption and differential privacy, and use an OHTTP relay to conceal your IP address. This ensures that Apple does not learn about the specifics of your images.
Personally, I have no issue leaving this feature enabled, but it can be turned off if you prefer.
One type of information that isn’t shared is location data. This is evident since several of my photos featuring the London skyline were mistakenly identified as belonging to various other cities, including San Francisco, Montreal, and Shanghai.
Source: The Verge. Images: Ben Lovejoy/DMN. Background: Maxim Berg on Unsplash.
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