Full Disk Access
Full Disk Access is a macOS privacy permission that lets approved apps access protected data, including data associated with other apps and backups, beyond ordinary file-access permissions.
Backup software may need to read protected files to back them up. Security software may need to inspect them. Full Disk Access makes that possible for approved apps, but it also makes a mistaken approval consequential.
What the permission changes
Apple lists Full Disk Access separately from Accessibility and screen recording. An app with broad file access has not automatically received permission to control the interface or record the screen.
It also remains subject to other file-system protections. Full Disk Access lifts a macOS privacy restriction; it does not turn the application into an administrator or bypass every access check. Apple’s developer guidance describes these permissions as one layer among several.
Reviewing a request
Start with the application and its job: which app is asking, who supplied it, and what protected data does it need to handle? A real System Settings prompt confirms where the permission is changed, but cannot tell you whether the application deserves it.
The Full Disk Access request guide walks through that decision. If an untrusted app already received access, record the app and when the permission changed. Investigators still need to determine which files it accessed. Removing the permission cannot recover data it already copied; the download-to-execution article explains how endpoint activity helps establish what happened.