In a post on its developer news website, Apple announced today that it will introduce “additional controls” for the “Full Disk Access” setting on macOS due to new risks posed by AI agents. This announcement comes amid the rise of always-on AI agents like Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots, which have raised privacy concerns.
“Some developers use full disk access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems—including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history—without users’ full knowledge and understanding,” Apple said.
“As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will increase significantly,” he added.
Here is the full text of Apple’s announcement:
We provide developers with powerful APIs to integrate incredible functionality into their apps for Apple products, supported by a set of controls designed to protect users’ private data. Full disk access largely bypasses these controls to allow backup apps to work properly on the Mac. Some developers use full disk access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems—including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history—without users’ full knowledge and understanding. For communication apps, this can also compromise the privacy of the people users communicate with.
Going forward, we’ll introduce additional controls to ensure that users who truly want to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with a very explicit user action. Addressing this issue is critical. As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will increase dramatically. We are committed to ensuring that users clearly understand these risks before granting such access, so that they can make informed decisions about their data and privacy.
Apple hasn’t said when the new “Full Disk Access” controls will be implemented.
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