Security Stop-Press: Privacy Concerns Over Apple’s Photo Analysis

Apple is under fire for enabling its Enhanced Visual Search feature by default on iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1 devices, analysing users' photos for landmarks without prior notice or consent.

The feature uses local machine learning to identify landmarks in photos, encrypts the data, and sends it to Apple’s servers for matching against a global database. Apple claims privacy is safeguarded through homomorphic encryption, differential privacy, and Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) relays, ensuring it cannot access photo contents or user data.

Critics, however, have flagged transparency and consent issues, suggested that Apple has taken the choice out of users’ hands, and expressed frustration over an alleged lack of timely communication. Concerns have also been raised about metadata possibly being processed before users can disable the feature, even for non-iCloud photos.

Businesses can prevent similar privacy issues by communicating transparently about new features, requiring explicit consent for data sharing, and giving users clear control over their data to build trust and ensure compliance.