Apple claims to have found a balance between user privacy and convenience with a tweak in macOS Sequoia: “fewer permission alerts” for screen recording

3 weeks ago 9

A cheerful man giving a thumbs-up while holding a MacBook.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Roman Samborskyi)

If you rely on screen recording tools, Apple’s macOS Sequoia 15.1 update could have some good news for you: fewer permission pop-ups. One of Apple’s key goals with Sequoia was to strengthen security and privacy for its users. Unfortunately, these protective measures felt a little too like an overbearing, over-worrying parent.

Early Sequoia beta testers were effectively being made to reauthorize screen recording apps on a weekly basis, which quickly became irritating for many users. Just before the launch of Sequoia, Apple addressed this by making the requests monthly instead. Now, Apple is reportedly taking it down a further notch.

The reminders serve an important role: ensuring users are aware of the real risks of screen recording – if an app can directly see your screen it can see all sorts of sensitive data. There’s no doubt about the importance of such measures, but when you’ve granted permission to the app already and use it daily, those frequent reminders are a nightmare.

Pop-ups, begone

Previously, the Amnesia app was developed to disable the monthly reminders on an app-by-app basis. Fortunately, Apple now seems to have found a balance between security and convenience. In the latest beta release notes, Apple explains there’s been a change in how macOS handles older content capture tech, which means that trusted apps will trigger fewer interruptions.

Mind you, this doesn’t mean the prompts will disappear altogether – privacy is still Apple’s top priority – they just won’t be as obnoxious for frequent users of the apps.

If you screen-record daily, you can be slightly less grumpy now, though some users may still want to reserve judgment until they see the update in action when it’s released on October 28.