Apple Park, Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, in September 2022. Image: InvadingInvader / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped
Apple is going to make it much harder for Mac apps to see everything on your computer, and it is blaming AI agents. In a post for developers on Friday, the company said it will add new controls to Full Disk Access, the macOS setting that lets an app read almost anything on the machine, because some developers are using it “in ways that could put users at risk”.
Apple didn’t name any app or say when the changes will arrive. But the timing is hard to miss: the warning comes days after a row over whether Meta’s Muse agent read a user’s private texts on his Mac.
What is Full Disk Access?
Full Disk Access is a switch in the Mac’s Privacy and Security settings. Apple says it was designed so backup apps can work properly, and that it “largely sidesteps” the controls that normally stop apps reaching your private data.
According to Apple, some developers are using it in ways that expose “everything on their systems, including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history”, without users’ “full knowledge and understanding”. For messaging, it adds, that can also compromise the privacy of the people you’re talking to.
“The risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially”
Apple says it will “introduce additional controls” so that people who “genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action”. Its reasoning is aimed squarely at the new wave of desktop agents:
“Addressing this is critical. As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially,” the company wrote, adding that it wants users to “clearly understand these risks” before handing it over.
The post is short. It doesn’t say what the new controls will look like, which macOS version they will come in, or what happens to apps that already have the permission.
Why Muse is in the frame
Meta’s Muse app for Mac can read your Messages history, but only if you switch on both Full Disk Access and its Messages connector, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said on September 30. That came after Inc columnist Jason Aten wrote that Muse had used his private texts although he said he declined that access, a claim Meta disputes. We covered the dispute alongside another user’s complaint that Muse shared his home address with a stranger.
It isn’t only Meta. This week, security researcher Patrick Wardle described a flaw in ChatGPT’s Mac app, since patched, that let other programs read users’ chats. Apple’s post doesn’t mention either case.
Why it matters
Desktop agents are only useful if they can see your files, messages and browser, which is exactly the access Apple now says is too easy to give away. Tighter controls should make it harder for an agent to quietly gain that reach, but they could also add friction for the agents that Meta, OpenAI and others are pushing onto the Mac.
Sources: Apple Developer, “Updates to Full Disk Access in macOS”; TechCrunch (Meta’s statement); Inc.
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