Apple Tightens Mac Full Disk Access Over AI Risks — SkimNews
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Apple is rolling out new limits on Mac "full disk access," requiring "very explicit user action" before any app can obtain the sweeping permission.
- Apple warns that full disk access currently exposes "files, mail, messages, and even browsing history" and says the risks grow "substantially" as AI agents become more capable and autonomous.
- Meta's Muse AI triggered the scrutiny after Inc's Jason Aten found the chatbot knew the contents of his messages despite never being given explicit permission to read them on his iPhone or Mac.
- Meta spokesperson Andy Stone disputed the report, saying Messages access is "entirely opt-in" and requires enabling both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector for Muse to read message content.
- Apple acknowledges the permission was designed to "largely sidestep" macOS privacy controls so that backup apps could function properly, creating the very gap developers and AI agents can exploit.
- Apple has not announced a timeline for the full-disk-access update and did not respond to The Verge's request for comment.
Why it matters: Apple is narrowing a permission that gives apps near-total visibility into a Mac — including messages, mail, files, and browsing history — just as AI agents from companies like Meta are racing to ingest exactly that depth of data. The Muse incident proved the gap was being exploited in practice, and Apple is closing it only after a user's complaint made the privacy cost public, with no rollout date yet attached.
Ask SkimNews
