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iOS18 finally does what should have been done all along: ability to tell the app it has access to contacts while not actually giving it access to the entire lis

iOS18 finally does what should have been done all along: ability to tell the app it has access to contacts while not actually giving it access to the entire list. Let me clear: fuck any app that demands to slurp up all my contacts and purposefully makes it hard to use it without allowing that (looking at you, WhatApp), and any developer who does it. If this is the end of the world for them, good riddance!

linotype 2y ago
What feature is this? Sounds great.
- diebeforei485 2y ago
  In iOS 18 you can allow apps access to only some contacts instead of the entire contact book. This makes sense. I don't want apps to know who my doctor is, especially considering many apps share this data with others (including, in some cases, governments). https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/control-access-to-contacts-iph9536aa9a5/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/control-access-to-con...
jiveturkey 2y ago
please, please let them do fake location next
shiroiushi 2y ago
>iOS18 finally does what should have been done all along: ability to tell the app it has access to contacts while not actually giving it access to the entire list. This seems like a mis-feature to me. iOS shouldn't be lying to apps like this. If an app shouldn't have access to all your contacts (which it shouldn't), then why is Apple approving such an app in the first place? I thought the whole selling point for iOS was the strictly controlled and curated app store.
- isametry 2y ago
  It should definitely by lying like this, because that information routinely gets abused to force you into just giving full access. Apple could totally be more strict with the App Store, and eliminate contact-stealing malware such as: - Instagram - WhatsApp - FB Messenger - should I go on?
- dmitrygr 2y ago
  Example: WhatsApp needs to show a name for a given number who messaged you. It might be in your contacts. So you need an api to look up a contact by number. Or you want to send a message and want to send to a contact, so you need at least an api to pick a contact. The latter is easy. The former is harder. Phone numbers are slow. Enumerating the space to leak your entire contacts list is trivial. Thus a lookup by number api cannot be. And thus instead we end up with "share partial contact list" as the best case, IMHO

linotype 2y ago

What feature is this? Sounds great.

diebeforei485 2y ago
In iOS 18 you can allow apps access to only some contacts instead of the entire contact book. This makes sense. I don't want apps to know who my doctor is, especially considering many apps share this data with others (including, in some cases, governments). https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/control-access-to-contacts-iph9536aa9a5/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/control-access-to-con...

jiveturkey 2y ago

please, please let them do fake location next

shiroiushi 2y ago

>iOS18 finally does what should have been done all along: ability to tell the app it has access to contacts while not actually giving it access to the entire list. This seems like a mis-feature to me. iOS shouldn't be lying to apps like this. If an app shouldn't have access to all your contacts (which it shouldn't), then why is Apple approving such an app in the first place? I thought the whole selling point for iOS was the strictly controlled and curated app store.

isametry 2y ago
It should definitely by lying like this, because that information routinely gets abused to force you into just giving full access. Apple could totally be more strict with the App Store, and eliminate contact-stealing malware such as: - Instagram - WhatsApp - FB Messenger - should I go on?
dmitrygr 2y ago
Example: WhatsApp needs to show a name for a given number who messaged you. It might be in your contacts. So you need an api to look up a contact by number. Or you want to send a message and want to send to a contact, so you need at least an api to pick a contact. The latter is easy. The former is harder. Phone numbers are slow. Enumerating the space to leak your entire contacts list is trivial. Thus a lookup by number api cannot be. And thus instead we end up with "share partial contact list" as the best case, IMHO