Apple's Lockdown Mode Improves Security, Yet Notifications Remain Confusing

As a cautious journalist, I am an avid user of Apple’s Lockdown Mode, an “extreme protection” feature. Since its launch in 2022, Lockdown Mode has become essential for dissidents, human rights defenders, and journalists confronting oppressive regimes. This security feature aims to disable certain functions on Apple devices to prevent sophisticated hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities and spying on users.

Lockdown Mode restricts various features on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, such as online fonts that can track users, certain file types, location data in shared photos, 2G cellular connectivity, and incoming calls on FaceTime and iMessage from unknown contacts. Despite inconveniences, Lockdown Mode significantly enhances protection against advanced hacking attempts.

Despite its effectiveness, the inner workings of Lockdown Mode remain obscure three years after its introduction. Some notifications generated by Lockdown Mode are confusing and seemingly random, potentially dissuading users from utilizing the feature to its full extent.

Tech and security experts have criticized Lockdown Mode’s notifications for lacking clarity and actionable information. Users have reported receiving puzzling notifications about blocked contacts, raising concerns about potential hacking attempts or system malfunctions. This lack of transparency has prompted calls for Apple to provide more detailed explanations or improve the notification system for Lockdown Mode users.

Sandvik and I are not the only ones left scratching our chins every time we see Lockdown Mode notifications. When I wrote about my concerns about Lockdown Mode on social media, several people responded publicly — and in private — saying they have had similar experiences and are also confused.

My editor Zack Whittaker, for example, has for months been sporadically getting Lockdown Mode notifications saying “an unknown contact attempted to share control of Apple Music,” as well as a notification that Lockdown Mode “blocked Focus Sharing” and “won’t be shared with other people when in Lockdown” (I also get this notification from time to time).

To the lab we go

I decided to run an experiment with the help of Harlo Holmes, chief information security officer and the director of digital security at Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit that helps support the free press. I wondered if it made any difference — in terms of triggering the confusing notifications — whether someone not in my contacts tried to reach out to me with Lockdown Mode enabled on my phone, and what type of content it would block.

We both deleted each other from our contact lists (we’re still friends, though), and started chatting for the first time ever on iMessage. When Holmes texted me — and neither of us were in each others’ contact lists — I received the “Lockdown Mode blocked…” notification, this time displaying her phone number. I still received her message.

We exchanged text, emojis, a cat picture, and iMessage “stickers.” All of these went through, except for the stickers, which turned to either a Unicode character of a question mark, or a nondescript file attachment, which can’t be opened, even if you tap on it:

When this happened, both Holmes and I could still see the stickers we sent from our own phones, meaning the blocking was only visible to the recipient. That is also the case for the “Lockdown Mode blocked…” notification. I received the notification, but Holmes didn’t know I got it.

This makes sense, as Apple wouldn’t want to tip off government hackers that their attempt to hack someone not only didn’t work, but also alerted the targeted individual that something went wrong.

That’s good to know, and again, I am happy Lockdown Mode blocks something, and makes me safer, but I still don’t know what these notifications are supposed to tell me.

I reached out to Apple asking them for some explanations, but an Apple spokesperson did not provide on the record remarks by press time. At least the spokesperson acknowledged receiving my message, so I know Lockdown Mode didn’t block it.