An advanced photo analysis feature quietly introduced by Apple with iOS 18 and macOS 15 is drawing criticism. To be able to search the photo library for landmarks, iPhones, iPads, and Macs transmit some image data to Apple servers without asking after installing the current operating system version. It is enabled by default; Apple calls this feature “Advanced Visual Search”.
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He never asked for such “enhancements” of his photos stored locally on the device, Developer Jeff Johnson complainedWho accidentally stumbled upon the related setting on their iPhone. Apple made this decision “quietly and without consent”. Johnson’s posting sparked years of social media debate about Apple’s data security practices and sometimes misleading media reports accusing the company of stealing users’ photos.
Apple refers to data security precautions
Apple’s overview of iOS 18’s “all new features” doesn’t mention “advanced visual search.” The innovation is briefly documented in the data protection rules for the Photos app: “Your device confidentially compares locations in your photos with a global index that is managed on Apple servers. Apple homomorphic encryption and differential privacy Additionally, an OHTTP relay is used, which hides the IP address, meaning Apple doesn’t get any information about the content of your photos,” the company said. Here’s how the promise is implemented technically. An entry on Apple’s Machine Learning blog, published in October,
Apple’s operating systems previously analyzed image content entirely locally on devices. Users can use it to search for specific image elements (“bicycle”) and scenes (“beach”). Existing visual searches provide additional information about image content and attempt to identify dog breeds, landmarks, plants, and insects. But this happens only when you open the photo. “Advanced Visual Search” now compares image data with a database on Apple’s servers for the first time. Homomorphic encryption makes it possible to perform calculations with encrypted data, so it does not need to be decrypted on Apple’s servers.
Criticism of lack of external review
This function obviously works even if the photos are only saved locally on the iPhone and Company and not synchronized via iCloud. One of the issues that appears to be problematic is that Apple has not provided any opt-in for this. Users can turn it off later only if they know where the switch is (“Settings > Apps > Photos > Advanced Visual Search” in iOS/iPadOS 18 and in the “General” tab of the macOS Photos app’s Settings).
The switch for Advanced Visual Search can be found at the bottom of Settings in Apple’s Photos app.
The opt-out only applies to photos taken later; Existing photo libraries have already been analyzed in this way.
You can’t offer such a privacy-friendly product if you have “good intentions.” Cryptologist Matthew Green commented on Hacker NewsBefore such a feature is enabled by default, third-party security researchers should be given the opportunity to review Apple’s privacy promises.
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