Screen Recording permission: what it reveals and who needs it

It lets an app see whatever is on your screen while it runs, so it's worth knowing which of your apps have it, and why.

What it allows

Apple's guide says apps you allow can record your screen and audio, or just your audio. Apple's device management reference puts the screen part more plainly: capturing, which means reading, the contents of the display. In practice an app with this permission can see anything that's visible on screen while it runs:

• other apps' windows and what's in them: documents, messages, web pages, passwords you've chosen to show;
• notifications, the menu bar and the Dock;
• with audio allowed, the sound your Mac plays.

It doesn't let an app click, type or move windows (that's Accessibility), or see the keys you press (that's Input Monitoring). Apple's guide adds that what an app collects this way is governed by the app's terms and privacy policy, not Apple's.

Where to find it

1. Open Privacy & Security

   Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.

2. Click Screen & System Audio Recording

   Every app that has asked is listed. A switch that's on means the app may record.

3. Choose what each app may record

   Turn an app on or off. Apple's guide says you can allow an app both your screen and audio, or just your audio. To add an app that isn't listed, click the Add button (+) below the list and choose it.

Apple's guides for macOS 14 Sonoma, macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 all use the name Screen & System Audio Recording and the same steps. From macOS 15, Apple's guides also list a separate Remote Desktop setting in Privacy & Security, for apps that reach your screen and audio through Remote Desktop.

Which apps need it

An app needs this permission when its job involves pictures of your screen or the sound your Mac plays:

• screen recorders and screenshot tools;
• video calls, when you share your screen;
• remote support and remote control apps;
• tools that show live pictures of your windows, such as Dock previews and some window switchers.

Window switchers are where it gets interesting, because they all show you your windows but don't all capture them. Here's what four of their makers say:

So the line runs between pictures and text. A switcher that shows thumbnails or previews has to capture your windows. Titles are text, and an app can read them through Accessibility; rcmd's FAQ says it uses Screen Recording to read them instead. If you'd rather not grant it, choose a switcher that doesn't need it for the features you use, or one where previews are optional, as in AltTab and Witch. The comparisons of Flick and DockDoor and Flick and rcmd go into the trade-offs.

Reminders to renew it

Apple's user guides don't describe any reminders, but its developer release notes do. From macOS 15 Sequoia, apps that capture the screen with older methods can trigger system alerts which, in Apple's words, indicate “they might be able to collect detailed information about the user”. Apple told developers to move to its newer capture framework, ScreenCaptureKit.

• macOS 15.1 made the alerts rarer for apps you use regularly and have already accepted.
• Apple doesn't publish how often they appear.
• On Macs managed by an organization, a device management setting available from macOS 15.1 can turn the alerts off.

If one appears for an app you know and want to keep recording, carry on. If it's an app you don't expect to be capturing your screen, turn it off in Screen & System Audio Recording.

Remove it

In Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, turn off the app's switch to stop it recording, or select it and click the Remove button (−) to take it off the list. From Terminal, tccutil reset ScreenCapture with the app's bundle ID removes it for one app; how to reset privacy permissions with tccutil shows how. After a removal or a reset, the app has to ask again before it can record. A switch you turned off stays off until you turn it on.

With Flick

Flick, the window switcher we make, never asks for Screen Recording. Its list shows each window's app icon, app name and title, and it reads the titles as text through Accessibility, the one permission it needs. It shows no thumbnails or previews, so if you want to see your windows as pictures, Mission Control is the built-in way.

The optional window locator, Settings › Appearance › Show where the selected window is, outlines the selected window on screen while the list is open. It uses only the window's position and size, never what the window shows, so it needs no Screen Recording either. Flick doesn't ask for Input Monitoring; its only other permission is Automation, for each browser you turn on for browser tabs.

Every permission Flick uses · The window locator