iOS apps that build their own social networks based on the user's address book may soon be a thing of the past. With iOS 18, Apple is cracking down on social apps that ask users for permission to access their contacts, something they often do to connect users with friends or suggest people to follow. Now, Apple is adding a new two-step permission popup screen that first asks the user to allow or deny access to their contacts, as before, and then, if the user grants access, lets them choose which contacts (not all of them) to share.
These changes were introduced during a session at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference focused on user privacy features.
According to Apple, when consumers share contacts with a third-party app, that app will have ongoing access to those contacts over time, even as new contacts are added. The permissions screen has two stages to give users more control over which contacts apps can and can't access.
The first screen asks users whether they want to share their contacts with the app. This is similar to the prompts available today, but some app makers are using the contact sharing option as a way to block users who decline to share their contacts from accessing their app.
For example, last year, photo-sharing app Lapse rose to the top of the App Store by requiring users to invite their friends to join. Prior to that, apps like Poparazzi and Clubhouse had asked for full address book access, a growth hack that helped them rapidly expand their networks. Amo ID, an app from the founders of Zenly (sold to Snap), also gained popularity by requiring users to invite their friends to join.
While these techniques may be effective at initially boosting user adoption, the hacks often don't foster sustainable growth in the long term, all the while forcing users to completely give up access to their address books just to try out a new social experience.
This may get more difficult going forward, as users who choose to share their address book by tapping “Continue” on the first screen will now be taken to a second screen in iOS 18 where they can choose whether to share all of their contacts with the app. Here, users can tap “Allow Full Access” or a new option, “Choose Contacts,” if they want to limit access.
What's more, in iOS 18, app developers won't need to make any changes or implement any new APIs for this feature to work — instead, these new screens will appear automatically when a developer's app requests access to contacts.
On X, developer Nikita Bier, who sold growth hack social apps like Gas and tbh to Discord and Facebook, joked that it was “the end of the world,” before posting a screenshot of Apple announcing new privacy features.
But for those concerned about security and privacy, the addition is a welcome one. As security firm Mysk wrote to X, the change will come as “bad news for data-collection apps.” Others noted that it will thwart apps that repeatedly request access to your address book after it has been denied. Users can now allow access, but limit which contacts can actually be pulled in.
The contact access restrictions in iOS 18 are great because apps like Snapchat finally stop asking for access to my contacts, even though I've denied them countless times.
Just give them limited access and include 0 contacts.
— That's nice (@earth2abdul) June 12, 2024
Additionally, iOS 18 won't require you to request full access if the developer's app can search for contacts to add.
Instead, the new Contacts Access button allows apps to display results of contacts they don't have access to, with an “Add” button next to each contact's name, allowing users to select each contact they want to provide to the app with just a tap.