This is convincing me that iOS users should enable Lockdown Mode, irrespective of whom they may be.
100%. Do it, don't look back. Disable it on a per-website basis if needed, but... largely, I simply accept that I don't need to do those things I can't do with it on.
I've been running Lockdown on my iOS devices since before iOS 16 came out (I installed the betas to play with it). The only actual annoyances I've found in practical, regular, daily use:
- Lots of websites use webfonts for icons. Those don't render, and you get empty "No font glyph" boxes instead for various arrows and icons. It's not a big deal in regular use.
- If someone sends you an animated gif as a MMS message (maybe iMessage too), it won't actually animate. Nothing of value is lost.
- The latest from "that guy" won't work, because there's no WebGL support for Javascript animations of watches, bicycles, cameras, etc. Given that the JS is non-obfuscated, I don't mind disabling Lockdown for his site.
- Some websites still use image formats that don't render, but this is far better than it was even six months ago when Lockdown was fresh and new.
Otherwise... I've eliminated an awful lot of actively exploited interfaces for almost no loss in functionality.
Cool. That's good to hear, thanks for sharing your experience!
- hyperlinks in iMessage/SMS aren’t clickable (but they can still be copied/pasted)
- installed apps that use JavaScript in their interfaces can have the same issues as websites (but you can turn Lockdown off for apps as well, if needed)
Overall worthwhile. Something about these “inconveniences” also gives me a sort of psychological disconnection from my phone that I personally find to be very healthy. Similar to how I felt limiting myself to F-Droid in my Android days.
Even apple admits an iPhone in lock down mode is no longer a normal iPhone. Besides, a low-level exploit like the Android one would bypass it.
I fail to see how my comment could be interpreted as a commercial for Lockdown Mode. Unfortunately, we are living at times where everyone now carries a device in their pocket with a reliable Internet connection, a microphone and a camera; and such devices have demonstrated consistently to be vulnerable to nefarious actors.