Do Apple laptops use FileVault encryption by default?

Solution 1:

Apple has not, to my knowledge and research, ever released a machine with encryption turned on by default.

Even with APFS that natively supports encryption^* (meaning it's baked into the cake and not just another layer on top), encryption has three options:

• no encryption
• single key encryption
• multi key encryption

This is something the user must select. Why Apple chose to go this way is something that only Apple knows, but it's evident that they wanted to give the option to the end user (or at least to the people deploying the Macs to the end users).

Solution 2:

I want to add a caveat to @Allan answer.

No Mac ships with encryption on. However, on newer Macs with the T2 coprocessor, the macs are in fact encrypted from the get-go. However, everything has access to the decryption keys. When you choose to enable FileVault 2 the Mac wraps the keys in a secondary layer of encryption basically instantly activating the encryption. So although it is not turned on by default, the drive is in fact encrypted and upon activation, the partition is instantly encrypted.