Sources: iOS 18 will let users lock built-in iPhone apps behind Face ID, and it is likely that the feature will also work with Touch ID or an iPhone's passcode
iOS 18 will offer a new security feature that allows users to lock individual apps, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
MacRumorsJoe Rossignol
Context & Ripple Effects
This reported iOS 18 capability fits a broader shift toward user-directed controls in the platform. Related coverage also describes more flexible Home Screen arrangement, extending the same release’s emphasis on letting people shape how their iPhones work.
iPhone users would be able to put an additional authentication gate in front of individual built-in apps, using Face ID and likely Touch ID or a passcode.
Apple’s built-in apps become less accessible to someone who can physically use an unlocked phone, without requiring a device-wide lockout.
Second-order effects
The feature raises the privacy baseline users may expect from app access controls, increasing pressure on third-party apps to make their own locking and sensitive-data protections easy to find and use.
Combined with finer-grained contact permissions, it gives users more ways to limit exposure inside apps, potentially making permission design and privacy messaging more consequential for iOS developers.
Third-order effects
If Apple continues to turn device authentication into a control for individual apps and data categories, iOS security will increasingly be defined by granular boundaries rather than a single unlocked-versus-locked state.
That direction could make platform-level privacy controls a more important competitive differentiator, while leaving app makers to distinguish their protections beyond the operating system’s defaults.
The trend: Mobile operating systems are shifting from one-time device unlocking toward finer, user-controlled authentication and data-access boundaries within the device.
SCOOP: iOS 18 will let you lock entire apps behind Face ID, multiple sources told me. I imagine this feature will also work with Touch ID/passcode. No more having to use Screen Time or Shortcuts workarounds.
SCOOP: Dark Mode 🤝 Home Screen. Starting with iOS 18, app icons will have a dark tint on the Home Screen when Dark Mode is turned on, multiple sources told me. This feature will initially be limited to Apple apps.
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