How to Stop Spotlight Search Data on Mac from Being Shared with Apple
Did you know that, by default, your Mac search queries entered into Spotlight, Safari, Siri, Lookup, and #images, are sent to Apple? While this information is anonymized so as not to be identifying, and Apple says it’s used to improve search results, many Mac users may not want this search information being shared with Apple at all. Additionally, privacy enthusiasts may find these type of data collection efforts to be undesirable.
Fortunately, you can easily turn off “Help Apple Improve Search” setting on the Mac to stop sharing your searches with Apple from Safari, Siri, Spotlight, Lookup, and #images search.
Spotlight is one of the absolute best features on the Mac with amazing search abilities for both the local Mac and outside information. While you might be mastering Spotlight with keyboard shortcuts and natural language searches amongst other handy tricks, you might not be aware that data entered into Spotlight is being shared with Apple by default. So, we’re going to walk through how to change that if you’d like to stop data sharing, and also detail what types of information and data from Spotlight and the Search features on Mac are being shared with Apple.
How to Stop Sharing Search Queries on Mac with Apple
- From the Apple menu, go to “System Settings”
- Go to “Spotlight”
- Scroll all the way down to the bottom of Spotlight Settings and find the setting for “Help Apple Improve Search” and turn this OFF to disable the sharing of search queries from your Mac with Apple
With this feature off, you will no longer be sharing search data with Apple from your Mac.
I’ve personally had this feature turned off in Spotlight forever, but it’s one of the many little privacy settings and data sharing settings that are enabled by default, that many Mac users may not be aware of, let alone aware that they’re sharing this kind of search data with Apple. I was reminded of this setting and how many Mac users are not aware of this data sharing when I saw a recent post at obdev.at (via mjtsai), who points out that “Apple has recently shown a noticeable tendency to collect, gather, transmit, and sometimes even store privacy-sensitive data – despite repeatedly emphasizing the importance of protecting such data and ensuring it remains solely on the user’s device.”
What exactly is being shared? The Spotlight search setting tells us, so let’s check that out next.
What kind of information is shared from Mac Spotlight and Search with Apple?
Apple says the following types of information are shared, albeit not linked to your email address, Apple ID, or Apple account:
- Your search queries
- Your location
- Topics of interest
- Visual search queries
- Contextual information related to search queries
- Suggestions you have selected
- Apps you use
- Related device usage data
- Subscription services
- Search engine suggestions
If you click on the tiny blue text “About Search & Privacy”, you will find the full details, which have been repeated below for easier reading:
What “About Search & Privacy” on Mac Says About Data Sharing
The full text of the “About Search & Privacy” screen associated with this setting is as follows:
When you use Look Up or Visual Look Up, when you type in Search, Safari search, #images search in Messages, or when you invoke Spotlight, limited information will be sent to Apple to provide up-to-date suggestions. Any information sent to Apple does not identify you, and is associated with a 15-minute random, rotating device-generated identifier. This information may include location, topics of interest (for example, cooking or basketball), your search queries, including visual search queries, contextual information related to your search queries, suggestions you have selected, apps you use, and related device usage data. This information does not include search results that show files or content on your device. If you subscribe to music or video subscription services, the names of these services and the type of subscription may be sent to Apple. Your account name, number, and password will not be sent to Apple.
You can also search using Siri, such as by asking Siri to look up general knowledge or do things like get directions. When you use Siri, the transcript of your request and other data may be sent to Apple to process your request and may be stored. You can learn more about how Siri handles your data by going to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri.
Information sent to Apple related to your searches is used to process your request and to develop and improve search results, such as by using your search queries to fine-tune Search models. It is not linked to your Apple Account or email address.
Aggregated information may be used to improve other Apple products and services. Apple may also send a limited, randomly sampled set of search queries to search tools for the purpose of evaluating and improving the performance and quality of Search.
Search Engine Suggestions in Safari
Safari has a single field for searches and web addresses so you can browse the web from one convenient place. When Search Engine Suggestions are enabled, Safari will ask your selected search engine for suggestions based on what you’ve typed.
Preload Top Hit in Safari
With Preload Top Hit enabled, as soon as Safari determines a Top Hit based on your bookmarks and browsing history, Safari will begin loading the webpage in the background. If you disable this option, the page will load normally.
You Have Choice and Control
If you do not want your search queries to be stored by Apple and used to improve Search, you can disable Improve Search by going to Settings > Search and tapping to turn off Improve Search. Searches you make through Siri will still be stored and used to improve Siri if you have enabled Improve Siri & Dictation. You can disable Improve Siri & Dictation by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements and tapping to turn off Improve Siri & Dictation.
If you do not want web-based content and search results, you can disable them by going to System Settings > Spotlight and deselecting Websites.
You can disable Safari Suggestions in Safari by going to Safari > Settings > Search and deselecting Include Safari Suggestions.
You can disable Location Services for Search by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Privacy > Location Services, then clicking Details next to System Services and turning off Suggestions & Search. If you turn off Location Services on your device, your location will not be sent to Apple.
Apple may process and store the information that is sent to Apple with trusted third-party service providers.
By using Siri Suggestions in Search, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its subsidiaries’ and agents’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information. At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy.
Whether or not this sounds like information you want to share with Apple or not is entirely up to you. Many Mac users won’t mind, especially if they feel by sharing this data they are improving their Mac experience, or helping Apple with data efforts, but on the other hand there are many privacy advocates that are less enthusiastic about sharing any data when it can be opted-out of or disabled. What works for you is up to you, but you should at least know about this setting, and what your Mac is doing.
