Should You Use FileVault Disk Encryption on macOS, Yes or No?

When FileVault is turned on, your Mac will always require your password when you log in, though this is a setting that can also be applied without any encryption, too.

If there are other user accounts on the Mac, you’ll need to enable each of them. This way each user can unlock the startup disk and access their own documents and settings.

If you forget your password

Since the disk is encrypted, its contents can be unlocked only with the account password or the recovery key, so you should be sure to keep both of them somewhere safe. We recommend using a password manager, but you can also write them down on a piece of paper.

If you forget the password, Apple provides the following options to decrypt the disk and reset the password:

• Mac users on OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later can choose to log in with their iCloud account.
• OS X 10.9 Mavericks users can choose to store a FileVault key with Apple by providing three security questions and their answers. Of course, you should only choose items that you are certain to remember.
• Those skipping iCloud FileVault recovery can create a local recovery key. This key should be kept somewhere other than on your encrypted disk, of course.

As such, FileVault is recommended on newer devices because, with the i5 and i7 Intel CPUs, Apple takes advantage of the AES-NI (Intel’s Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions) to make the FileVault encryption less of a demand on the system. That’s not the case with older chips, as encryption must instead be done within software.

Apple recommends using FileVault on Macs with SSDs because the Secure Erase option is not available on these machines due to how SSDs work. However, when you format the encrypted disk – if, for instance, you are preparing your Mac for sale – the decryption keys will be destroyed, meaning the new owner won’t be able to recover any of the older files. A performance drop is not noticeable, especially if you are using an HDD.

As a result, if you are using the latest (or nearly the latest) hardware from Apple, you won’t notice much of a detrimental effect on your system, which means enabling FileVault a no-brainer, especially if you are intending to protect your documents. Users of older machines may want to refrain from turning it on, since it may make using the computer a hassle.