Apple says it is adding additional controls around “Full Disk Access” on macOS as AI agents have increased “the risks associated with this level of access”

Days after a journalist claimed that Meta's Muse app on Mac read their private messages — a claim that Meta disputed …

TechCrunch 2026-10-03 Sarah Perez

Context & Ripple Effects

Meta brought Muse to the Mac in September with the ability to manage files and draw from other apps, expanding the agent from mobile and web into a desktop environment with broader local-data exposure. Days later, a researcher reported a token-access flaw that Meta said it had hotfixed; a separate allegation that Muse read private messages is disputed by Meta.

Apple’s move makes system-level permissioning a more explicit constraint on agents’ Mac capabilities, rather than treating broad disk access as an ordinary application privilege. The development follows Muse’s Mac launch and the reported Muse authentication-token flaw.

First-order effects

Mac developers building AI agents will face additional controls when requesting Full Disk Access, affecting how their apps obtain and retain access to users’ local data.
Meta’s Muse must operate under a more restrictive permission environment on the Mac, while scrutiny of its data-access design follows the reported token flaw that Meta said it fixed.

Second-order effects

Competing Mac agent developers will need to make data-access requests more specific and legible to users, turning permission design into a product and onboarding consideration.
Enterprise administrators using management profiles may need to reassess how agent applications are approved, since broad disk access is becoming a higher-risk category in Apple’s security model.

Third-order effects

If Apple applies increasingly granular controls to autonomous software, operating-system permission layers become a central governor of which agent workflows can be delivered on desktops.
The Muse episode shows that agent competition on consumer platforms will be shaped not only by model capability, but by vendors’ ability to earn and preserve access to sensitive local data.

The trend: AI agents are pushing desktop platforms toward finer-grained, user-visible permissioning for software that can act across local files and applications.

Discussion

@leakerapple @leakerapple on x
Has everyone been lobotomised? Apple isn't blocking full disk access to AI agents. They're just making the permissions more granular and explicit because of the risks that AI agents pose to user data and privacy.
@theo @theo on x
At this point, if you still run the majority of your agents on MacOS, NGMI.
@_julianschiavo Julian Schiavo on x
“As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially.” I hope this is fine-grained permissions, not making it more annoying to grant permissions, but I worry it'll be the latter
@viticci Federico Viticci on x
This is concerning: https://www.macstories.net/...
@reedalbergotti Reed Albergotti on x
Further evidence that we need a new kind of computer for the AI age. https://techcrunch.com/...
@classicii_mrmac Mr. Macintosh on x
Apple just announced big changes to Full Disk Access in macOS! When will it ship? What will the new approval look like? Will existing FDA approvals be affected? What about existing MDM/PPPC profiles? Will enterprise & security tools get different treatment from AI or other apps?
@pvncher Eric Provencher on x
Probably gonna stick on macOS27 for the foreseeable future
@theo @theo on x
AI users: “MacOS permissions suck. They get in the wa-” Apple (interrupting): “Understood! We'll make sure you get way more popups and notifications about permissions!”
@patrickwardle Patrick Wardle on x
Apple is already understandably annoyed by poorly written/insecure/greedy AI agents/assistants insisting on Full Disk Access, and then once granted/obtained, abusing that, to access <all the things>. ...that didn't take long!
@johnvoorhees John Voorhees on x
Apple's vague developer blog post about protecting Mac customers from AI agents by making Full Disk Access changes has me fired up on a Friday evening. https://www.macstories.net/...
@ryanvogel Vogel on x
i don't understand why people think this is bad? agents probably shouldn't have full disk access, Apple will probably have a lighter version of full disk access that don't put users data and privacy at risk i think this is good & needed
@javi @javi on x
I hope you like permission prompts
@natlungfy Natalie Lung on x
Shots fired? Apple plans to introduce new privacy controls for Mac users, warning of the growing risks around granting broad data access to third-party software, including AI agents https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@rayminehane Ray Minehane on bluesky
Note Apple is telling the EU this is impossibly complicated to do on iOS [embedded post]
@tyleraking.com Tyler King on bluesky
With the recent warning that Meta's Muse agentic bot could be hacking your devices, Apple is tightening controls around full disk access settings.
@mcmillen.dev Colin McMillen on bluesky
a much greater “AI risk” than paperclip maximizers is the fact that we're moving towards a world in which a billion people will have software authorized to act on their behalf whose *correct* behavior isn't even well-specified, and that can be easily exploited en masse — www.wi…
@mshelton@mastodon.social Martin on mastodon
Translation: Apple acknowledges that regular people are making very risky decisions by allowing full disk access for agents. In the past, such far-reaching permissions over your system and its data were rare, and now companies are asking for it all the time. https://techcrunch.c…
r/apple r on reddit
Updates to Full Disk Access in macOS - Latest News
r/apple r on reddit
Apple says it's tightening macOS ‘Full Disk Access’ controls due to new risks from AI agents
r/MacOS r on reddit
Updates to Full Disk Access in macOS

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