It seems that Apple’s learnings from the Path Contacts debacle have extended to the Mac, too, with the latest Developer Preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion also seeing a Contacts-based new security addition.
Those with reasonable memories will remember that Path, the social networking app that was all the rage not long ago, got itself into some hot water for taking all the details from the iOS Contacts app – names, numbers, email addresses and more – and uploading them to its own servers. This led to all kinds of scaremongering and ultimately, Apple decided to add a warning message to iOS that tells users when an app is requesting access to contact details. Users then have to option of allowing or blocking that access.
Now it appears that Apple has pulled this security feature across from iOS to the Mac, or at least it will in the next version of OS X when it arrives later this year…
Mac developers are now testing the second Developer Preview of OS X Mountain Lion, and any apps which want access to the Contacts app now ask for permission before diving in, similar to the way location data is protected in iOS right now.
Users will be able to manage these permissions via the Privacy tab in System Preferences, allowing the withdrawal of access as and when required.
Cynics will argue that this is just another step in the “iOS-ification” of the Mac, though few could argue that such a security measure is a bad thing.
What say you?