App security overview
Today, apps are among the most critical elements of a security architecture. Even as apps provide amazing productivity benefits for users, they also have the potential to negatively impact system security, stability, and user data if they’re not handled properly.
Because of this, Apple provides layers of protection to help ensure that apps are free of known malware and haven’t been tampered with. Additional protections enforce that access from apps to user data is carefully mediated. These security controls provide a stable, secure platform for apps, enabling thousands of developers to deliver hundreds of thousands of apps for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS—all without impacting system integrity. And users can access these apps on their Apple devices without undue fear of viruses, malware, or unauthorized attacks.
On iPhone and iPad, all apps are obtained from the App Store—and all apps are sandboxed—to provide the tightest controls. To reflect the Digital Market Act’s requirements, users in the EU can install apps from alternative app marketplaces and directly from an authorized developer’s website, which introduces a lower level of security. Apple has introduced protections, including (but not limited to):
Notarization for apps
An authorization for marketplace developers
Disclosures on alternative payments
These protections help to reduce risks and deliver the best, most secure experience possible for users in the EU. Even with these safeguards in place, many risks remain. For more information, see Update on apps distributed in the European Union on the Apple Developer website.
On Mac, many apps are obtained from the App Store, but Mac users also download and use apps from the internet. To safely support internet downloading, macOS layers additional controls. First, by default in macOS 10.15 or later, all Mac apps need to be notarized by Apple to launch. This requirement helps ensure that these apps are free of known malware, without requiring that the apps be provided through the App Store. Second, macOS includes state-of-the-art antivirus protection to block—and if necessary remove—malware.
As an additional control across platforms, sandboxing helps protect user data from unauthorized access by apps. And in macOS, data in critical areas is itself protected—which helps ensure that users remain in control of access to files in Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and other areas from all apps, whether the apps attempting access are themselves sandboxed or not.
Native capability | Third-party equivalent |
|---|---|
Plug-in unapproved list, Safari extension unapproved list | Virus/Malware definitions |
File Quarantine | Virus/Malware definitions |
XProtect/YARA signatures | Virus/Malware definitions; endpoint protection |
Gatekeeper | Endpoint protection; enforces code signing on apps to help ensure that only trusted software runs |
eficheck (Necessary for a Mac without an Apple T2 Security Chip) | Endpoint protection; rootkit detection |
Application firewall | Endpoint protection; firewalling |
Packet Filter (pf) | Firewall solutions |
System Integrity Protection | Built into macOS |
Mandatory Access Controls | Built into macOS |
Kext exclude list | Built into macOS |
Mandatory app code signing | Built into macOS |
App notarization | Built into macOS |