Apple is tightening macOS Full Disk Access because of AI agents
The permission hands an app everything on your Mac. Apple says autonomous agents make granting it so freely too dangerous.
Apple plans to tighten one of the most powerful permissions on the Mac. The reason it gave is new: AI agents. TechCrunch reported on October 2 that the company will add controls around macOS's Full Disk Access, the setting that lets an app reach a user's files, messages, mail and browsing history.
Full Disk Access is all or nothing. Turn it on for an app and that app can reach everything the setting covers at once. Apple said some developers are using it in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems without users' full knowledge and understanding.
What is changing, in Apple's telling, is who ends up holding that access. According to TechCrunch, the new controls will require "very explicit user action" before an app is granted Full Disk Access, rather than the quicker approval the permission allows today.
Apple tied the move directly to software that can act on its own. As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, the company said, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially. An agent with Full Disk Access is not just reading a user's data. It can act on all of it.
The announcement followed two reports that showed the stakes. TechCrunch said Meta's Muse app had read private messages without explicit permission, and that a flaw in ChatGPT's Mac app could expose sensitive data. Both involved the kind of broad reach Full Disk Access governs.
Apple framed the change as being about informed consent. The company said it wants users to clearly understand these risks before granting such access, so they can make informed decisions about their own data and privacy, and it called addressing the problem critical. What it did not give was a timeline, or the macOS version that will carry the new controls.
Sources
- Apple says it’s tightening macOS ‘Full Disk Access’ controls due to new risks from AI agents · TechCrunch, AI