Overview
- Apple announced the change in a developer notice published Saturday and said apps will only get Full Disk Access after a “very explicit” user action.
- The company has not explained the technical mechanics or a rollout timeline, leaving open questions about how the prompt will work and how enforcement will be handled.
- Full Disk Access was created for backup and utility software but has been repurposed by some third‑party AI agents to read emails, messages, browser history and other local files.
- The move follows recent reports that an AI agent suggested private conversations to a journalist and Meta’s denial that its Muse agent accessed messages, which helped drive scrutiny of disk permissions.
- Because Macs allow broader local data access than iPhones and iPads, Apple framed the change against device‑specific feature limits and EU rules, and developers may need to redesign integrations if tighter prompts reduce agent access.