Apple has unveiled a new security technology for the upcoming iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, aiming to block mercenary spyware attacks that rely on memory corruption exploits. The feature, called Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), is described by the company as “industry-first, always-on memory safety protection across our devices — without compromising our best-in-class device performance.”

MIE is built into Apple’s new A19 and A19 Pro chips and uses Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE), developed with Arm, to assign tags to memory and verify them in real time. If a mismatch occurs during an exploit attempt, the system blocks access and stops the process instantly. Apple explained that “known mercenary spyware chains used against iOS share a common denominator… they exploit memory safety vulnerabilities,” and MIE is designed to make those attacks significantly harder.

Experts say the move could have a major impact on spyware vendors. A researcher who spoke to TechCrunch said, “The iPhone 17 is probably now the most secure computing environment on the planet that is still connected to the internet.” Jiska Classen, a professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute, added, “I could also imagine that for a certain time window some mercenary spyware vendors don’t have working exploits for the iPhone 17.”

Patrick Wardle, an Apple-focused security researcher, noted that “this will make their life arguably infinitely more difficult,” while cautioning that the dynamic remains “a cat-and-mouse game.”

The protections will cover core system processes and Apple apps by default, with developers able to extend them to third-party software through Xcode’s Enhanced Security settings. Apple says its internal testing against real-world exploit chains showed MIE disrupting attacks so early that chains could not be rebuilt with alternative vulnerabilities.

With spyware like Pegasus previously exploiting memory flaws on iOS, Apple’s latest step raises the costs for attackers and places the iPhone 17 among the most hardened consumer devices against targeted surveillance.