How do I give Flick the Accessibility permission?

Turn it on

1. Click Grant Accessibility Permissions

   It's on the Permissions Required screen of Flick's welcome window, which opens the first time you start Flick and every time after that until the permission is on. Show Onboarding in Flick's menu bar menu opens it too.

2. Let System Settings open

   System Settings opens at Privacy & Security › Accessibility, with Flick in the list, switched off. If macOS also shows its own alert about Flick, click Open System Settings.

3. Turn on Flick

   Turn on the switch next to Flick. macOS may ask for your password or Touch ID.

   Flick not in the list? Click the Add button (+) below it, choose Flick in your Applications folder, click Open, then turn on its switch.

4. Go back to Flick

   There's no need to restart it. The welcome window now shows Permissions Granted, and Flick starts listing your windows.

To open the page yourself, choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Privacy & Security in the sidebar, then click Accessibility; you may need to scroll down. The steps are the same on macOS 14 Sonoma and later. Flick's Open Accessibility Settings button and its Accessibility permission needed menu item go straight there too, but they don't add Flick to the list, so use + if it's missing. The installation guide walks through the whole first launch.

Why Flick needs it

Accessibility is how Flick reads other apps' windows and acts on them (what the permission covers). It's the one permission Flick needs, and Flick uses it to:

• List your windows: each window's app, title, position and Space, and the file and folder names of the document it shows, when its app reports one, so search can find it.
• Switch to the one you pick, restoring it from the Dock or showing its hidden app first.
• Close or minimize a window when you ask it to.

What Flick reads stays in memory on your Mac: titles and document names are never saved or sent. What Flick reads, in the privacy policy. Accessibility is a broad permission, and Apple's advice is to allow it only for apps you know and trust. Weighing that for Flick? See is Flick safe to use.

What you'll see without it

Clicked Maybe Later, or turned it off? Flick can't see your windows, and it tells you where you'll notice:

• The panel says “Flick needs accessibility permissions to track your windows.”, with an Open Accessibility Settings button, when you press ⌥Tab or the search shortcut.
• The menu bar menu shows Accessibility permission needed at the top. Choose it to open the right page in System Settings.
• The welcome window opens each time you start Flick.
• With the ⌘Tab trigger, Flick leaves ⌘Tab to macOS until the permission is on, so you always have a working switcher.

Turn it off later

Turn off Flick's switch in the same list. Once it has the permission, Flick checks for it every 5 seconds, so it notices: it stops listing windows, the panel shows the message above, and with the ⌘Tab trigger macOS gets ⌘Tab back. Turn it on again and Flick starts over with a fresh scan of your windows, still with no restart.

Removing Flick for good? Select it in the list and click the Remove button (−) as part of uninstalling Flick.

It's on but Flick sees no windows

If Flick's switch is on but the panel still shows the accessibility message, or the welcome window keeps asking, macOS is holding on to an entry that no longer applies to the Flick you're running. It can happen after Flick is replaced with a different copy. Select Flick, click −, then add it back with + and turn it on. Fix it step by step

Questions