Overview
- Apple has announced a policy requiring “very explicit user action” before apps can gain Full Disk Access, a change driven by concerns about AI agents reading private data.
- Reporting based on a leaked developer beta indicates macOS 27.3 will stop auto-listing apps that try to open protected files so they no longer appear as a quick toggle in System Settings.
- The beta also includes a reported new Private Folders feature that would let users grant folder-by-folder permissions instead of broad disk access, but the feature is not yet fully implemented.
- Developers can reportedly still guide users to add apps manually to Full Disk Access by asking them to drag an app into the settings panel, leaving a user-driven workaround that may persist.
- Full Disk Access was created for trusted utilities like backups and antivirus but also exposes mail, messages and caches, so the change is meant to limit accidental data exposure and will be tested further in the beta cycle before wider release.