Is it safe to save things inside of /Users/<use...

# compose-desktop

[spierce7]

Is it safe to save things inside of /Users/<user>/Library/Preferences ? It seems like any application can just create any file in this directory. Do we have any guarantees from Apple about the security of the files placed here from our application?

[Kirill Grouchnikov]

If you’re worried about cross-app access, you might want to take a look at https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/UserDefault[…]ngPreferenceDatainiCloud/StoringPreferenceDatainiCloud.html

[spierce7]

yes - that's what I am worried about, but storing in icloud / non-locally seems like a bad solution also. Is the idea that apps can just easily access other apps preferences?

[spierce7]

Where would I store private data for the app?

[Kirill Grouchnikov]

You can read on what is available at https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/app_sandbox

[Kirill Grouchnikov]

My understanding is that it is mostly for protecting user data (contacts, photos, etc) from apps, not for protecting one app’s data from all the other apps.

[Kirill Grouchnikov]

And there’s also https://support.apple.com/guide/keychain-access/what-is-keychain-access-kyca1083/mac

[mikehearn]

If you opt in to the app sandbox then you can store files that are protected from other sandboxed apps but not other apps in general.

[mikehearn]

Otherwise you can use the macOS keystore