This is a really good and important look at Lockdown Mode by @lhn. "Surprisingly usable" — yes! The tiny bit of friction that users experience with Lockdown Mode (such as having to copy and paste links manually from Messages to Safari) quickly becomes second nature.

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-lockdown-mode-hands-on/

What It’s Like to Use Apple’s Lockdown Mode

If you're at high risk of being targeted by mercenary spyware, or just don't mind losing iOS features for extra security, the company's restricted mode is surprisingly usable.

WIRED
@zackwhittaker @lhn someone should tell Google they broke YouTube in lockdown mode during the recent Adblock fighting efforts. Ironically I can still watch YouTube on my Mac with uBlock Origin.
@zackwhittaker @qwertyoruiop @lhn yeah it’s been broken for me too. They make me do cursed things now to watch youtube, like streaming my desktop screen on my phone to watch videos
@zackwhittaker @lhn for me the thing hurting most is the added complexity in opening a PDF

@zackwhittaker @lhn

I'm still mad that people lambasted me when I said positive things about Lockdown when it was first released and told me it would only provide a false sense of security and degrade usability.

@dangoodin @zackwhittaker @lhn Eh, people are always eager to tear down anything Apple does. Sometimes, rightfully so, but more often just because it’s Apple. I’ve been seeing that sort of thing for 40 years. Don’t let it bug you, it’s not a you problem, it’s a them problem.
@dangoodin @zackwhittaker @lhn it’s just such a wrong take. Lockdown mode is one of the few really on point things Apple has done for security, and one of the most effective mitigations. The only thing is they could further optimise the security/usability tradeoff, which isn’t yet optimal IMHO.

@zackwhittaker @lhn This article convinced me with "stingrays", because there's a history of our local police department here in Sunrise, Florida (and my other hometown, Washington, D.C.) using this technology:

https://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/stingray-tracking-devices-whos-got-them

Stingray Tracking Devices: Who's Got Them?

[Updated November 2018]

American Civil Liberties Union
@zackwhittaker @lhn For me, I only notice it with two things: Opening PDFs is cumbersome.
Very annoying is that most images don't load on websites. I won't add exceptions for every random page. Haven't noticed any other issues.