Apple has announced tighter controls on Full Disk Access in macOS, saying the privilege - which was meant to let backup apps function - largely sidesteps normal privacy protections and has been misused to expose files, mail, messages, and browsing history. The stated change will require very explicit user action before granting that access because increasingly autonomous AI agents raise the stakes. The announcement responds to incidents where agentic AI assistants like Meta Muse (and others such as Grok, Claude, and Dots) have accessed private data after persuading users to grant permissions, and the European DMA is already pushing on related privacy boundaries.
The piece argues this is a necessary clampdown for the mass of technically unsophisticated Mac users - roughly 150 million worldwide - who assume macOS behaves like iOS and click through prompts, then blame Apple when an AI reads their iMessages. The trade-off is real: power users rely on Full Disk Access for legitimate tools and worry that new controls will force manual approvals or cripple workflows. The writer hopes Apple will preserve a path for knowledgeable users to enable powerful access with clear, unmistakable warnings, noting many Apple engineers themselves depend on macOS as a full Unix workstation.
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