The Mac setting that shows which apps can read everything

👋 HEY, IT'S RAJA

On October 2, Apple posted a short note to developers about one setting on your Mac. It said AI agents have made that setting riskier, and that new controls are coming.

The setting is Full Disk Access. Most people have never opened it, and most people have apps sitting in it that they forgot about.

So this week's find is not an app. It is 2 minutes in System Settings that show you which apps on your Mac can read everything.

🔍 The find: Full Disk Access

The one permission on your Mac that skips every other permission.

What it is

macOS normally guards your private data one category at a time. An app has to ask separately for your Photos, your Contacts, your Calendar and your Desktop folder. You see a prompt each time, and you can say no.

Full Disk Access skips all of that. An app that has it can read your Mail, your Messages history, your Safari browsing history and every file in your user folder. It exists so backup apps can copy your whole Mac without asking you 40 times.

Why Apple is changing it

Desktop AI agents ask for it now. In September, Inc. columnist Jason Aten reported that Meta's new Muse agent synced his Messages database even though he believed he had not given it access. Meta disputes that and says Muse needs both Full Disk Access and its own Messages connector before it can read a single text.

Whoever turns out to be right, Apple's response is the part that affects you. It said some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that put users at risk, and that granting it will soon take very explicit action from you. It has not said when.

Until then, your list is whatever you approved months ago and forgot.

How to check yours

1. Open System Settings.
2. Click Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
3. Scroll down and click Full Disk Access.
4. Read every app in the list and look at its switch.

What to keep and what to switch off

Keep. Backup apps like Backblaze, Arq or Carbon Copy Cloner. They need it to do their job. The same goes for a malware scanner you actually run.

Think twice. Terminal and other developer tools. If you run command-line tools that work in protected folders, they need it. If you have never opened Terminal on purpose, switch it off.

Switch off. Any app you do not recognise, any app you no longer use, and any AI agent that is not doing a specific job that needs it right now.

Switching an app off does not break anything for good. If it genuinely needs access, it will ask again, and you get to decide with what you know today instead of what you knew when you clicked Allow during setup.

💡 Pro tip: for an app you are done with, select it and click the minus button to remove it from the list completely instead of just flipping the switch. A switched-off app stays in the list looking harmless. A removed one has to ask again from scratch.

📍 Where: System Settings, Privacy & Security, Full Disk Access

⏱️ Time: about 2 minutes

↩️ Undo: switch any app back on the next time it asks

🚩 Red flag: an AI app you installed once to try it out

Two minutes. Open it before the next AI app asks.

On Wednesday, what Claude Cowork, ChatGPT Dots and Meta Muse can each actually see on your Mac, and the settings that decide it.

Keep it useful,

Raja · The Useful Tech

P.S. Enjoyed this? Forward it to a friend who loves their Apple gear a little too much.