They’re actively asking developers to index all the content in their apps, to provide Personal Context that Siri can use for user requests. And to create/index the actions available in the app.

So, where developers comply, all of that content is now accessible to those alternative implementations.

It’s not full read/write of the phone, and it’d exclude obvious secrets like passwords, but it is quite far reaching access.

I don’t know what sort of restrictions they can put on the alternative implementations. Can I vibe code one and have it live in a week? or is there a minimum bar?

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Huppie 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

We may have a different view of what 'giving access' means in this context.

The way I see it: If a user willingly (1) installs another AI app like deepseek and (2) willingly gives it access to 'full phone and app data' with a warning screen or setting of whatever that seems... like a good thing?

I may not agree with those users that it's worthwhile providing their full private data to [some AI startup X] or [Some Chinese or US AI company that will hover up as much for their own use] but if the EU forces Apple to provide this as an option, that sounds good to me.

The whole point of the regulation is that the data on the device is _the user's_ data and if Apple can have its AI services work with the user's data, competitors should be able to do the same.

From my (admittedly European) perspective it looks like Apple is just throwing a tantrum here.

	▲	e28eta an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I don’t have the EU perspective, which might be changed by things like GDPR, but I prefer Apple’s stance that “no one should have this data, not even us”. One reason is that the data on a user’s phone isn’t solely owned by them. Some of it is shared with other people, or “belongs” to someone else: chat, email, shared documents, photos of people, contact information, etc. In a corporate environment, this is more explicit: you have access to company information, so the IT department controls what apps you can install / run, because individual EEs won’t always make the best choices. Second, I think app developers are more likely to share more data, if they know that the shared data doesn’t leave the user’s control. And that (presumably) makes the feature work better. If I’m developing an app, I’ll think twice about indexing any sensitive data, if I don’t know where it was going to end up.

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gumby271 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Could the restriction not be the device owner choosing to use it? If some rando vibe coded an app and the os told me all the things it can access, I'd probably want to trust the developer before installing it. Why do I need to beg Apple's permission to use software better than their first party offering?

	▲	NetMageSCW 17 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Because you made the choice to trust Apple when you bought an iPhone. And while you may make a deep study of who is providing your alternative AI app (is that even possible with openAI or Copilot or Gemini?), the average use will pick something shiny and lose their savings when it transfers their bank balance outside the country.