Comment by Schiendelman
1 month ago
I think both of you had it turned on from past OS installs - it's bundled under other search metadata, the config isn't new to 18. And "it's on and I don't remember agreeing" is absolutely not evidence. This is super common - nobody remembers what they enabled a year ago.
> I think both of you had it turned on from long past OS installs.
It's a brand new feature of iOS 18 and macOS 15. It did not exist in iOS 17 or macOS 14.
Moreover, my macOS 15 volume was a totally fresh, clean install on a test Mac.
By the way, Enhanced Visual Search is also enabled by default in the Xcode iOS 18 simulator.
Think about it this way: for people who turn off any & everything that phones home (aka anyone who is frustrated by this new "feature"), the chances of them having turned on something like that upon install is almost nil.