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Apple Will Block Third-Party Developers’ Access to Contacts ‘Notes’ Field in iOS 13

Apple Will Block Third-Party Developers’ Access to Contacts ‘Notes’ Field in iOS 13

With the release of iOS 13, Apple will block third-party apps from accessing the “Notes” field in a user’s Contacts when requesting information from the Contacts app. The move is designed to address a little known security hole in Apple’s mobile operating system.

The move comes due to many users tendency to include personal data in the Notes field, such as PIN numbers, credit card numbers, email addresses and more. The Notes field is unencrypted, and remain so in iOS 13, but access by third-party apps will, for the most part, be denied.

Developers that believe they have a valid reason for needing to access the field can file for an exception, even though Apple says most apps do not need access to the private info.

TechCrunch says Apple revealed the change at their Worldwide Developers Conference, going on this week.