Do you have a source that this is being used on all photos on the device? The EFF posts says it applies to 2 cases: photos being uploaded to iCloud, and photos

Do you have a source that this is being used on all photos on the device? The EFF posts says it applies to 2 cases: photos being uploaded to iCloud, and photos through iMessage if the account holder is a child and the feature hasn't been disabled. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/apples-plan-think-different-about-encryption-opens-backdoor-your-private-life https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/apples-plan-think-diff... You're right that only scanning photos uploaded to iCloud is currently pointless. But maybe Apple plans to do semi-end-to-end encryption on iCloud photos in the future, and then this feature would be useful.