Apple to restrict Mac Full Disk Access, says AI agents greatly increase risk

Apple announced it will add new restrictions to Full Disk Access on macOS, requiring users to grant apps this permission through very explicit, deliberate actions. Apple said some developers' use of Full Disk Access could put users at risk, exposing files, email, messages, and browsing history without users' full knowledge, and said that as AI agents' capabilities and autonomy increase, the risks from such access will rise significantly. Full Disk Access is the permission on macOS that lets apps access the user's entire system; Apple said the feature was originally designed for backup apps to work properly and largely bypasses user-facing privacy controls. Apple did not say when the update will roll out. This comes weeks after Inc's Jason Aten found that Meta's Muse AI seemed to know the contents of his messages, even though he had not explicitly authorized it on his iPhone or Mac; Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded that message access is entirely based on user opt-in, requiring both Full Disk Access and Muse's Messages connector to be enabled.