What the Accessibility permission lets a Mac app do

Apple's steps are the same on macOS 14 Sonoma, macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27: the same place in System Settings, the same switches. Where Apple's wording differs between versions, it's noted below.

What it allows

Accessibility is the interface macOS offers to assistive software, such as screen readers and voice control, so that it can read what's on screen as text and operate apps on your behalf. Apple's developer documentation calls an app that you've allowed a “trusted accessibility client”. Once an app is on that list, it can:

• Read other apps' interfaces: window titles, positions and sizes, menus, buttons, and the text in fields and documents those apps expose.
• Act on them: press buttons, choose menu items, type, and bring forward, move, resize, minimize or close windows.

It's a broad permission. Apple's summary in Privacy & Security settings says it lets apps run scripts and system commands to control your Mac, and its guide to allowing accessibility apps warns that giving an app this access also gives it access to your contacts, calendar and other information, under the app's terms and privacy policy rather than Apple's. Apple's advice is to allow it only for apps you know and trust.

Two things it isn't. It works with an app's interface elements, not pixels, so it doesn't let an app record your screen: that's Screen Recording, a separate permission. And there's one switch per app, not per target: an app you allow can work with every other app, unlike Automation, where you answer for each pair of apps.

Why some apps need it

Any app whose job is to work with other apps' windows needs it, because those windows belong to other apps. Typical examples:

• Window managers and tiling tools, which move and resize other apps' windows.
• Window switchers, which list other apps' windows and bring the one you pick forward. AltTab's FAQ, DockDoor's site and Raycast's manual for its Switch Windows command each say it needs Accessibility (checked October 15, 2026).
• Automation and macro tools, which click, choose menu items and type for you.
• Assistive apps, such as alternative input or screen-reading tools from other developers.

If an app asks for Accessibility and its job has nothing to do with other apps' windows or controls, ask why before you allow it.

Grant it

1. Answer the alert

   When an app first tries to use accessibility features, macOS shows an alert. Click Open System Settings if you know the app, or Deny if you don't. Many apps also have a button of their own that opens the right page.

2. Turn on the app

   In System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility (you may need to scroll down), turn on the switch next to the app. macOS may ask for your password or Touch ID.

3. App not in the list?

   Click the Add button (+) at the bottom of the list, find the app, select it and click Open, then turn on its switch.

4. Go back to the app

   Some apps notice the change right away. If an app still says it needs the permission, quit and reopen it.

To open the page yourself, choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Privacy & Security in the sidebar, then click Accessibility. Apple's guides for macOS 14 and 15 say to click Accessibility “on the right”; the place is the same.

See which apps have it, and remove one

The Accessibility list in Privacy & Security is the complete answer: every app that has asked or been added is there, and the ones with the switch on are allowed. It's worth a look now and then.

• Pause an app: turn off its switch. It stays in the list, so you can turn it back on later.
• Remove an app: select it and click the Remove button (−). It has to ask again, or be added again, before it can use the permission.
• From Terminal: tccutil reset Accessibility followed by an app's bundle ID clears that app's entry. Without the bundle ID it clears every app's. See how to reset privacy permissions with tccutil.

On a Mac managed by a school or company, a configuration profile can set this permission for some apps; Apple's device management reference lists Accessibility among the privacy settings a profile can control. On macOS 27, Apple says you get a notification for each app a profile sets this way, and you can still change its switch in System Settings. If a switch won't change on a work Mac, ask your IT team.

It's on, but the app still can't work

The usual cause is that the app on your Mac is no longer the one macOS approved. When you allow an app, macOS records how to recognize it from its code signature (Apple calls this the designated requirement), and checks each new version of the app against that record (Apple's technote on code signing requirements). An update signed the same way keeps the permission. A copy signed differently, such as a developer build or a version from a different source, doesn't match, and System Settings can go on showing its switch as on.

1. Remove the app and add it back

   In Privacy & Security › Accessibility, select the app and click −. Then click +, choose the app in your Applications folder, click Open and turn on its switch. macOS records the copy you have now.

2. Reset it from Terminal

   If that doesn't help, run tccutil reset Accessibility with the app's bundle ID, then allow the app again. Only that app's entry is cleared.

3. Reopen the app

   Some apps check for the permission only when they start.

Two more things to check. Some apps do the work in a separate helper app, which needs its own switch: the app's own instructions say so. And on a managed Mac, the setting may be controlled by your organization.

Accessibility, Input Monitoring and Screen Recording

These sit next to each other in Privacy & Security and are easy to mix up. Each is separate: allowing one never allows another. Apple describes them like this in its Privacy & Security settings guide:

More on each: Input Monitoring, Screen Recording and Automation.

With Flick

Flick, the window switcher we make, needs Accessibility to list your windows, switch to the one you pick, and close or minimize a window when you ask. It's the one permission Flick can't work without. Flick never pops up the macOS alert by itself: the Grant Accessibility Permissions button in its welcome window asks macOS and opens the Accessibility list, where you turn Flick on.

While the permission is missing, Flick checks for it every second, so it starts listing windows as soon as you turn it on, without a restart. Once it has it, Flick checks every 5 seconds and stops if you turn the switch off. It reads app names, window titles, positions and Spaces, and the names of the files and folders windows show, and keeps them in memory only. Flick doesn't ask for Screen Recording or Input Monitoring; Automation is optional, once for each browser you turn on for browser tabs.

Give Flick the Accessibility permission · Every permission Flick uses