Apple announced on Friday, October 2, that it is introducing additional controls around the Full Disk Access permission on macOS. The move comes days after a journalist claimed that Meta's Muse app read his private messages on the Mac—a claim Meta disputed.
Full Disk Access was originally designed to allow backups and system tools to function properly. With the proliferation of AI agents that operate directly on the operating system, Apple said 'the risks associated with this level of access have increased.'
The Muse incident raised questions about the level of security and trust users place in desktop-based AI assistants. While Apple did not detail the new controls, the statement indicates the company will require more granular and explicit consent for apps to access system files.
For those running production systems and managing Mac fleets, the change means workflows that depend on unrestricted disk access—such as monitoring tools, automated backups, or deployment scripts—may need permission reassessment. Apple signals that the era of broad local data access by AI agents is closing.
The paper considers the measure necessary and aligned with the maturation of the AI agent market. Controlling disk access is not new, but doing so in response to concrete, documented risks is the right path to keep assistant convenience from becoming a data leak vector.