Apple may add new iPhone security feature with iOS 18

Tech giant Apple may add a new security feature for iPhone apps that allows users to lock inbuilt iPhone apps like Messages, Phone, Photos, Mail, Safari, Notes, Settings, etc., with FaceID, as per a report by Macrumors. The report is based on inputs from “multiple sources familiar with the matter”.

Normally, iPhone users employ FaceID to unlock their phones. What if some security feature, like FaceID itself, was required again to open certain apps? Or, it could be some other type of security feature, like a security pin, password or TouchID.

Apple has already put similar security measures in place for certain apps. But those are not meant to lock the entire app as a whole. For example, iPhone users can lock up notes in the Notes app and photos in the "Recently Deleted" and "Hidden" albums in the Photos app. They can do so using FaceID or passcode.

What if, with iOS 18, Apple expands app locking so that users get to lock the entire app, not just a few features of the app? It would certainly add a new layer of security. But which apps will get the additional locking benefit? WWDC 2024 seems to have the answer.