Every Mac since macOS 13 keeps a database of the people in its owner’s life. Some of the family ties in it are a machine-learning model’s guesses.
Security researcher Dario Pasquini of Eighth Rank has published a detailed map of that database. His write-up, dated October 28, lists what macOS copies into it, what it works out on its own and what happens when you delete a contact. It reached a wider audience on Saturday, November 7, when it was shared on Hacker News.
Apple’s public documentation of the system is a short man page.
Source: Privacy Affairs · 2026-11-07