Apple launched iOS 18.4, which included bug patches, new emoji, and an addition to Apple News’ recipes area. In September, however, Apple launched iOS 18, which includes a feature that attempts to improve image discovery in your photo library by sending photo data from your iPhone to Apple’s servers. This capability, which Apple refers to as Enhanced Visual Search, is activated by default. However, if privacy is a concern for you, you may easily disable the option.
See also: All the Information You Require About iOS 18
What you need know about Enhanced Visual Search is as follows.
Apple’s improved privacy features for Visual Search
“Enhanced Visual Search in Photos allows you to search for photos using landmarks or points of interest,” Apple said on its website. “Your device privately matches places in your photos to a global index Apple maintains on our servers.”
Parts of a photo that may include a landmark are encrypted and transmitted to Apple’s servers, but the whole image is not sent, according to a research article from Apple. Additionally, your encrypted data is just one piece of trash data that isn’t connected to any of your or anybody else’s photos.
The data is not decrypted by the Apple server until it reaches there. Only encrypted data may be used with it. The server then provides your smartphone an encrypted answer, which your device decrypts if it determines whether or not the encrypted picture data includes a related landmark.
Additionally, the firm said in the article that it conceals the IP address of your data by using an Oblivious HTTP relay run by a third party. Additionally, your iPhone assigns a new IP address to the picture data each time it transmits it to a server.
However, others have questioned if this is sufficient to safeguard your data. Developer Jeff Johnson said on the internet, “If my computer transmits information to the computer’s manufacturer, then it’s not private, or at least not completely private.” “A software bug would be sufficient to make users vulnerable, and Apple can’t guarantee that their software includes no bugs.”
Here’s how to disable Enhanced Visual Search if you’re worried about it transferring your picture data to Apple’s servers. It’s crucial to remember that your images will still be sent to Apple’s servers if you have an iCloud account to save pictures or backup your iPhone data. That won’t cease if you disable this feature.
How to turn off Visual Search Enhancement
1. Go to Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Select Pictures.
4. Next to Enhanced Visual Search, tap the toggle.
In order to assist you in finding images on your iPhone, your iPhone will no longer transmit encrypted photo data to Apple’s servers. This implies that your iPhone’s ability to search for images will probably degrade. Use the aforementioned instructions to reactivate the function.