Just updated my M4 MacBook Pro to Tahoe and notice that I have FileVault turned on by default. I've never used FileVault and have no particular need for it as my MacBook never leaves my house and is hidden & locked away whenever I'm not present. I'm not too sure quite what it does or what it involves, but do I really need it? Can I de-activate it without causing any problems?
Thanks for your input.
MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.0
You can safely deactivate it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > FileVault.
FYI, FileVault encrypts your internal storage which is always a good idea. But it's such a good idea that starting with the Macs using the T2 Security Chip and including all Apple Silicon Macs (together covering all Macs that can run Tahoe), the internal storage is already encrypted. So when Apple turned on FV by default in Tahoe, all that does is modify the encryption key to include your login password. If you turn off FV, your data are still hardware-level encrypted.
More info if you want to do a deeper dive:
Protect data on your Mac with FileVault - Apple Support
You can safely deactivate it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > FileVault.
FYI, FileVault encrypts your internal storage which is always a good idea. But it's such a good idea that starting with the Macs using the T2 Security Chip and including all Apple Silicon Macs (together covering all Macs that can run Tahoe), the internal storage is already encrypted. So when Apple turned on FV by default in Tahoe, all that does is modify the encryption key to include your login password. If you turn off FV, your data are still hardware-level encrypted.
More info if you want to do a deeper dive:
Protect data on your Mac with FileVault - Apple Support
Excellent - I thought it would be ok, just needed a bit of reassurance.
I've turned it off and it has now decrypted. Re-started MacBook and all would seem to be well.
Thanks 👍
FileVault - Recent Tahoe update
