Apple is developing a fix for a bug in iPhone Mirroring that could compromise your privacy and security when using the feature at work.
iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia permit you to mirror everything on your iPhone on a Mac, including iPhone notifications, apps and more. It’s one of the best new Continuity features in a while, and I’ve been liking it a lot! With it, I can run iPhone apps without installing them on my Mac, which has always been a miserable experience.
But as it turns out, iPhone Mirroring is also a privacy and security nightmare for enterprise users, claims a cybersecurity software company called Sevco Security. That’s because iPhone Mirroring can expose apps on your personal iPhone and private aspects of your life to your corporate IT department.
iPhone Mirroring is a privacy risk in enterprise
“When Sevco saw personal iOS applications reported as installed on Mac devices, we assumed it was a narrow, one-off bug in our processing or an upstream customer inventory provider,” the company explains on its blog.
“As we dug in, we recognized it was not a glitch—personal iOS apps were indeed being reported on Mac devices from multiple upstream software vendors at multiple customers. This issue was something new and systemic.”
Sevco provides examples of issues, such as exposing a VPN app you use. If you live in a country that restricts online access, this could get you in trouble. And what if your employer finds out about your sexual orientation because they see you have Grindr, a gay dating app, installed? In some parts of the world, that alone could cost you a job or even something worse. Or, you may be using an app related to a health condition you don’t want to share with your bosses.
“For companies, this bug represents a new data liability from potentially collecting private employee data,” Sevco writes. “If this bug is not addressed, it may lead to violation of major privacy laws such as CCPA, potential litigation and federal agency enforcement.”
Apple is working on a fix
Sevco has informed Apple about the above problems. The company claims that the iPhone maker “has identified the root cause and is working on a fix.”
Until a fix arrives, however, Sevco advises against using iPhone Mirroring on work computers. Apple is currently testing the iOS 18.1 update which brings drag-and-drop support to iPhone Mirroring, among other improvements, but it doesn’t seem to include a fix for the aforementioned privacy bug.