iOS 18 is full of big, loud changes, like new customization tools, updates to Photos, Notes, and Messages, and upcoming Apple Intelligence features. But one small update is causing a lot of concern for social apps, and this change is designed to protect user privacy.
The new contact sharing prompt is more restrictive than before
Apple has implemented a key shift in how apps can access a user's contacts in iOS 18.
Previously, an app like Instagram or WhatsApp would ask for access to your contacts, and you could either grant access or deny it. There was no other option.
But iOS 18 makes the questions much more granular. If an app asks for access to your contacts after the update, you can choose exactly which contacts you agree to share.
Sounds like a good change, right?
However, according to a New York Times report, this permissions tweak could create serious problems for social apps that rely on contact sharing. Especially for new social apps trying to break into a crowded market.
Kevin Roose writes about his conversation with Nikita Beer, “a startup founder and consultant who has built and sold several viral apps aimed at young people.”
Mr. Beer told me that data he’s seen from startups he’s advised suggests that contact sharing has dropped sharply since the iOS 18 changes took effect, and that for some apps, the number of users sharing 10 or fewer contacts has increased by 25 percent. (Other developers said their own apps have seen similar declines, though no one but Mr. Beer would go on the record to discuss the matter for fear of angering the Cupertino colossus.)
A 25 percent drop in contact sharing might not seem like a big change. But for social apps, the ability to quickly connect new users with their friends can mean the difference between success and failure. Facebook, for example, found in its early days that if users added seven friends within 10 days of signing up for an account, they were more likely to stick with it than users who didn’t.
Best comment from WC
I never share contacts because it's all or nothing. Your contacts list may contain sensitive data that you should never share. Allowing selective access makes it more likely that I'll share a subset of my contacts. However, the current implementation doesn't allow me to create custom groups, so I have to choose one for each app, which is a lot of work.
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The all-or-nothing approach to contact sharing has never made sense. But it’s also clear that this change would create unnecessary obstacles to the success of new social apps.
9to5Mac’s Take
It’s hard enough to compete in a market dominated by giants like Meta and TikTok. If this change makes signing up for a new social app seem overly burdensome, then Apple is ultimately helping to “make the rich richer” in some ways.
At the same time, I’m not convinced that Apple should do anything differently. Perhaps there are tweaks to the permissions process that could make things more user-friendly. But overall, the move to more transparency and granularity in contact sharing seems like a very good thing.
What do you think of these privacy changes? Which approach to contact sharing do you prefer: the old or the new? Let us know in the comments.
