Apple is making changes to its iOS 18 that will impact social apps that rely on users’ address books to build their own social networks. These changes were announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference and are aimed at giving users more control over their privacy. In the current version of iOS, when users share their contacts with a third-party app, that app has ongoing access to their contacts, even as new ones are added. However, in iOS 18, Apple is introducing a two-step permissions pop-up screen to address this issue.
The first screen will ask users if they want to allow or deny access to their contacts, similar to the prompt available in the current version. However, some app makers have used the contact-sharing option as a way to block users who decline to share their contacts from accessing their app. This growth hack may provide an initial rush of user adoption, but it often does not drive sustainable growth in the long term.
With iOS 18, users who choose to share their address book will be taken to a second screen where they can choose whether or not to share all their contacts with the app. They will have the option to either allow full access or select specific contacts to share. This gives users more control over the information they are sharing with social apps.
What’s interesting about this update is that app developers do not need to make any changes on their part for this functionality to work. The new screens will appear automatically if a developer’s app asks for access to contacts. This means that even apps that previously demanded full address book access will now have to adhere to the new permissions system.
This change is being well-received by those concerned about security and privacy. It prevents data harvesting apps from accessing users’ entire address books and also stops apps from repeatedly asking for access even after being denied. Users can now grant limited access and choose which contacts the app can actually access.
For developers whose apps allow users to search for contacts to add, they no longer need to request full access. The new Contact Access Button allows apps to show results for contacts they don’t have access to, and users can choose to add them on a one-by-one basis.
Overall, these changes in iOS 18 give users more control over their privacy and address the issue of social apps accessing users’ address books without their explicit consent. It also prevents app makers from using contact-sharing as a way to block users who decline to share their contacts. This update is a step towards ensuring user privacy and data security in social apps.