Apple still hasn’t kept its macOS promise 4 years ago

Apple promised a series of changes to solve the problems faced by users after major server outages following the release of macOS Big Sur in 2020. However, four years later, some of these promises have still not been fulfilled.

Why couldn’t Apple keep its promises for macOS?

During the major server outage in 2020, macOS users encountered serious problems. Disruptions in the application verification process, which Apple calls App Notarization, caused users to encounter long waiting times when opening applications. Following this incident, Apple announced that it would make a series of changes that will allow users to completely disable online notarization checks. However, a significant part of these promised changes have still not been implemented.

In its statements at the time, Apple announced that it stopped recording IP addresses associated with Developer ID certificate checks to further protect user privacy and developed a new encrypted protocol for these checks. However, the option to completely opt out of online notarization checks is still not available, and all references to this feature have been removed from Apple’s support documentation. This increases concerns among users that Apple has canceled this plan.

Apple’s failure to keep these promises means that, although rare, delays in the opening times of applications during server outages are still possible. When users encounter such issues, they are frustrated that Apple does not provide the option to disable these important security controls. Especially considering that such outages raise questions about security and privacy among users, Apple is expected to take steps to correct this situation.

The decision not to implement these changes is somewhat surprising, as Apple has always taken a leading role in security and privacy issues. The company may consider online security controls to be critical for users. However, not providing a way out for situations where these controls could negatively impact the user experience means Apple is failing to deliver on its promise to its users.