Lockdown Mode

Lockdown Mode is an optional, extreme protection available since macOS Ventura and iOS 16. Apple designed it for the small number of people who may be personally targeted by sophisticated digital threats, such as mercenary spyware. Instead of adding a new scanner, it reduces attack surface by limiting features that are often abused as entry points.

With Lockdown Mode on, most message attachment types are blocked and link previews are disabled, certain complex web technologies such as JIT JavaScript compilation are turned off unless a trusted site is excluded, FaceTime calls from people you have not called before are blocked, and shared albums are removed. New configuration profiles cannot be installed and the device cannot enroll in MDM while it is active.

Users turn it on in System Settings under Privacy & Security, and it must be enabled separately on each device. Some apps and websites will behave differently, so it is not meant as a default setting for everyone.

Read the Lockdown Mode guide for deployment advice.