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The company says granting apps sweeping macOS permissions will soon require very explicit user action, weeks after a dispute over Meta's Muse AI and private Messages.
Apple is putting a tighter lock on one of the most powerful permissions in macOS. The company says it will add new limits to “Full Disk Access” on the Mac, citing risks from AI agents.
What Apple is changing #
Apple announced the change in an update on Friday, October 2, 2026, a story first reported by TechCrunch. The company says it is rolling out new controls for the permission.
Apple framed the goal this way:
“Ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action.”
Full Disk Access is roughly the master key to a Mac. Once granted, an app can read your files, your Mail, your Messages and your Safari browsing history.
In a post on its developer blog, Apple explained that the permission was originally meant for legitimate backup software. Backup tools need to see everything, because their entire job is copying everything.
The problem, according to Apple, is that some developers have used the permission for other purposes. AI agent builders were singled out as a particular concern. Apple says such apps have been able to reach sensitive data, including files, communications and browsing history, without users fully understanding what they had approved.
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Apple also flagged a wrinkle that is easy to overlook. When one user grants this access, the privacy of the people messaging that user can be compromised too.
What Apple did not provide is a detailed breakdown of how the new controls will work or when they will arrive.
The Meta Muse dispute that set the stage #
The announcement follows a September report from Inc. columnist Jason Aten about Meta’s Muse AI. Aten reported that Muse appeared to know the contents of his messages, even though he said he had not explicitly given the chatbot permission to access them on his iPhone or Mac. His report described the AI reaching 187,000 rows of Messages data.
Meta disputed that account. Spokesperson Andy Stone said access to Messages is “entirely opt-in.”
According to Meta, reading Messages requires two separate steps. A user must grant Full Disk Access to the app and also enable a specific app-level connector for Messages.
Why AI agents changed the math #
Desktop AI agents such as Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots are growing in popularity. These tools often request broad local access so they can deliver richer, more personalized help.
Apple’s own framing points to this tension. The company highlighted the growing risks tied to what autonomous AI agents are capable of doing, not just what they are designed to do.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our