Comment by geococcyxc

1 month ago

Another setting that surprised me with being turned on by default apparently on macOS 15 is System Settings - Spotlight - "Help Apple Improve Search": "Help improve Search by allowing Apple to store your Safari, Siri, Spotlight, Lookup, and #images search queries. The information collected is stored in a way that does not identify you and is used to improve search results."

No, this is not on by default. After system install at first boot it asks if you want to help improve search and it describes how your data will be handled, anonymized, etc. If you clicked on yes it is on. There is a choice to opt out.

  • I was on by default for me, both after the macOS 14 -> 15 upgrade and after installing macOS 15 cleanly. I wonder if they ask for consent in some regions only.

  • I always say no to all analytics/improvement prompts.

    Both the search and photos settings were on for me in both iOS and MacOs. Completely unacceptable Apple

I love the, "help <megacorp> do x" options. Help? Your market cap is over $3tn. Help yourself! And stop asking how my call quality was.