Full Disk Access and Messages: why apps ask for it and whether it's safe

macOS keeps your Messages history in a protected folder, and Full Disk Access is the only permission that lets an app read it. The name sounds broad because it is: it also opens Mail, Safari history and other protected data. So give it only to apps you trust, check what each one does with it, and turn it off when you no longer use the app.

Updated November 2, 2026

How to turn Full Disk Access on or off

1. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access.
2. Turn the switch next to the app on or off. macOS asks for your login password or Touch ID.
3. If the app isn't listed, drag it from your Applications folder into the list, or click the Add button (+) and choose it.
4. Quit and reopen the app if macOS asks you to.

What the permission allows

Since macOS Mojave, apps can't open certain folders even though they belong to you: Messages, Mail, Safari data, Time Machine backups and others. Full Disk Access lifts that wall for one app, for reading and for writing. It doesn't let the app change system files, and it doesn't send anything by itself; what happens next depends on the app.

How to tell a careful app

• It says what it reads. An app for your messages should need Messages (and Contacts, for names), nothing else.
• It reads without writing. Exporting messages never requires changing them.
• It doesn't need the internet. Turn off Wi-Fi and see whether it still works. If it needs a connection to show your own messages, it may be sending them somewhere; check its privacy policy.
• Few questions about you. An app that only reads your Mac rarely needs to know who you are.
• A privacy policy in plain words, naming every connection it makes.

What Textbound does with it

Textbound uses Full Disk Access to read the Messages history and its attachments (the ~/Library/Messages folder) and the Contacts database, in read-only mode, where they are, with no copy. It reads nothing else on the disk. It has no account and no server for your messages, and never sends your messages, contacts or files anywhere; the few connections it makes, such as the update check, are listed on the privacy page. Exports are written only where you save them. Turn off Wi-Fi and export: it works the same.

Free for the newest 100 messages of any conversation · macOS 14 or later

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