Apple will start limiting Mac disk access for developers due to risk of AI agents

• Full Disk Access was introduced for system-wide backups, but agentic AI has introduced a new threat
• Apple has confirmed it will be “introduc[ing] additional controls” to protect sensitive data
• No word on when the changes could apply – no signs for macOS 27.2 just yet

Apple has announced plans to give users more control to the Full Disk Access setting on macOS in a bid to prevent agentic AI from gaining too much access to unwarranted information.

Typically, giving an app Full Disk Access would let it bypass many of macOS’s privacy protections, including files and documents, emails, messages, browser history and other data.

It was introduced largely to support system-wide backups, which genuinely needed access to all that data, however with the rise of agentic AI, Apple has been forced to tighten that.

Apple makes major change to Full Disk Access due to AI

“Some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems,” the company said in an October 2 announcement.

“We will introduce additional controls to ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action.”

The company specifically called out AI agents for prompting this change, referring to it as a critical measure in terms of safety.

Crucially, Apple hasn’t yet updated the interface and options for Full Disk Access, however an upcoming version of macOS will likely include such changes. Currently, there’s no indication that the changes are included in the beta version of the upcoming macOS 27.2, however both Beta 1 and Beta 2 predate the October announcement, so there’s always the possibility that future beta versions or the full release could include the change.

The change was likely triggered by a recent report that Meta’s Muse AI agent had accessed a user’s messages, however Meta spokesperson Andy Stone did stress in an X post that both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector are “entirely opt-in” for each user.

Still, Apple’s current Full Disk Access settings are very broad, so more granular controls can only be a good thing.