Apple will make Full Disk Access on macOS harder to grant, citing AI agents, and gives no dateApple will make Full Disk Access on macOS harder to grant, citing AI agents, and gives no date

Apple told Mac developers on 2 October that it will add new controls to Full Disk Access, so that granting the permission needs very explicit action from the user.

The notice, two paragraphs on Apple's developer news page, says Full Disk Access largely sidesteps the privacy controls in macOS and exists so backup apps can work properly. Apple says some developers use it in ways that expose files, mail, messages and browsing history without users' full knowledge. For communication apps, it adds, the exposure reaches the people a user talks to as well. The stated reason for acting now is that AI agents are becoming more capable and autonomous, and Apple expects the risks to grow substantially.

TechCrunch, which reported the notice first, and The Verge both connect it to Meta's Muse agent, after a writer at Inc reported that Muse had read his Mac Messages history. Meta told The Verge that Messages access is entirely opt-in and requires both Full Disk Access and a Messages connector. Apple's notice names no app, and neither outlet obtained a comment from Apple.

What has Apple not said yet?

Almost everything a developer would need to plan around. The notice gives:

• No macOS version and no date.
• No description of what the explicit action will be.
• No word on whether access already granted will be revoked or asked for again.
• No new API, entitlement, Info.plist key or App Review rule.
• No list of apps, backup tools or Apple's own, that will be treated differently.

MacRumors, AppleInsider and The Verge all note the missing timeline. The Verge describes the change as rolling out; Apple's own wording is that it will introduce the controls, which is a statement of intent.

Which apps use Full Disk Access today?

More than backup tools. MacStories' John Voorhees lists launcher Alfred, the text utility PopClip, the file automation app Hazel, Setapp, TestFlight and Apple's own Pixelmator Pro among apps that ask for it. He calls Apple's backup-only justification nonsense, and warns that Apple may go further than a stricter prompt and limit which apps can request the permission at all.

Our take

Apple has taken the right side of an argument it was losing. When we looked at how one Full Disk Access switch covers Messages, Mail and Safari together, the problem was not a bug but the design: macOS asks separately about the camera, the microphone and Contacts, and then offers one switch for everything else a person owns. Apple's notice now describes its own permission in almost those terms. That is a notable thing for a platform owner to put in writing.

What the notice does not do is fix it. A more explicit step is still a step a person can be talked through. The fake Zoom installer that coached Mac users past Gatekeeper showed this week how readily people follow instructions on screen when they believe the software is legitimate, and an AI agent's setup flow is exactly that kind of trusted script. Friction helps people who hesitate. It does little for people who have already decided.

APPDOOK's reading is that the durable answer is narrower permissions, not a louder version of the broad one: a separate grant for Messages, for Mail, for browser history, each explained. For developers, the practical advice is the same as before the notice. If an app can do its job with a folder the user picks, it should ask for that and stop asking for the whole disk, because whatever Apple ships next is likely to make the broad request more alarming, and the people who rely on Hazel or Alfred will want to know their tools survive it.