Back in 2024,Applereleased a software feature known as Enhanced Visual Search across iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia. Building on the foundations of the company’s existingVisual Look Up tool, Enhanced Visual Search is a more powerful system for identifying landmarks, locations, and points of interest from within yourPhotoslibrary.
Enhanced Visual Search is an interesting and potentially useful software tool to have at your disposal, but it’s not without its issues. Read on for information on how the feature works, as well as instructions on disabling it if you’d rather not have it running in the background.
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What is Enhanced Visual Search?
An easy way to identify and search for points of interest
At its core, Enhanced Visual Search works by uploading snippets of your photo data to Apple servers, allowing for advanced indexing of geographic locations to take place. Photo data is then compared with an existing database of landmarks, which is used to provide quick access to information on the landmark in question via the web.
To access Enhanced Visual Search, simply tap on an image of a public building, monument, nature scape, or locale from within your Apple Photos library, and then tap on the small ‘i" glyph icon near the bottom of your screen. If the system is able to identify relevant details on the subject, it’ll automatically surface a Look Up button. Tapping on this will display a written breakdown under theSiriKnowledge section, which sits right above the Similar Web Images section.
Enhanced Visual Search is enabled by default when setting up a new Apple device, which has led to some privacy concerns. Of course, Apple has built safety measures into the system, including vector embedding, homomorphic encryption, and Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) relay support. For good measure, the companyhas outlined the process in a paperthat can be found on its official website. As you might expect, if you’re already an activeiClouduser, then your photos are already being uploaded to an Apple server. If you lean towards privacy consciousness, however, then it’s thankfully possible to disable Enhanced Visual Search in its entirety.
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How do I turn off Enhanced Visual Search on iOS and iPadOS?
The process is the same across both iPhone and iPad
To disable Enhanced Visual Search on your iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:
This feature is only available in iOS 18 / iPadOS 18 and newer. As such, you won’t find the toggle on older versions of either operating system.
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How do I turn off Enhanced Visual Search on macOS?
The option can be found within the Photos app’s dedicated Settings page
To disable Enhanced Visual Search on your MacBook, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, or Mac Pro, follow these steps:
This feature is only available in macOS 15 Sequoia and newer. As such, you won’t find the toggle on older versions of the Mac operating system.
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