As a paranoid journalist, I am an enthusiastic user of Apple’s opt-in “extreme protection” feature, Lockdown Mode.
Apple launched Lockdown Mode in 2022, and since then the security feature is considered a must-use for dissidents in corrupt countries, human-rights defenders in oppressive regimes, and journalists speaking truth to power.
Lockdown Mode is designed to switch off some features in iPhones, iPads, and Macs, with the goal of reducing the likelihood that hackers armed with sophisticated spyware or zero-days — unknown flaws in systems that allow attackers to stealthily exploit them — can successfully break Apple’s operating system protections and spy on its users.
In practice, Lockdown Made removes some normal Apple device features, such as fonts loaded from the internet that can track you, the ability to receive certain types of files, your location data from photos that you share, support for 2G cellular connectivity, and letting people who haven’t contacted you before reach you over FaceTime and iMessage; although it’s unclear if the latter is the case (more on that later).
In exchange for these nuisances, Lockdown Mode makes it harder for you to get hacked, even by some of the most advanced hackers out there.
Lockdown Mode already has a track record of blocking those advanced attacks. Apple says it is not aware of any successful hack against its users who have enabled Lockdown Mode, and digital rights group Citizen Lab have documented an attempted spyware attack blocked by Lockdown Mode. I, too, have personally heard some people in the offensive security industry complain about Lockdown Mode making their exploits more difficult.
But three years after its debut, exactly how Lockdown Mode works is still shrouded in obscurity, and lacks explanations into the reasoning behind what actions Lockdown Mode takes. And, some of Lockdown Mode’s notifications are downright confusing, unexplained, or seemingly random, which might discourage some users from using Lockdown Mode altogether.
Blocked, but why?
Let me preface this by saying that people who are at risk from government hackers must use Lockdown Mode, even considering the restrictions that come with it.
Those restrictions are not the problem. Lockdown Mode’s notifications have become increasingly puzzling.
Case in point: The other …