Apple has relaxed its privacy rules for screen recording apps in the sixth beta of macOS Sequoia, switching to monthly permission prompts.
macOS Sequoia is still under development, but there are already many complaints from beta testers about nagging permission prompts that need to be confirmed weekly for each third-party app with screen recording and screenshotting capabilities, whether built using Apple’s official ScreenCaptureKit framework or not. Apple obviously listened to early feedback as the sixth beta of macOS Sequoia reduces the frequency of these permission nags.
Now you’ll have to click through them every month instead of every week. There still isn’t an option to permanently grant an app screen recording permissions. As per Chance Miller of 9to5Mac, this change has yet to be implemented in the macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta. Also, I can confirm that macOS Sequoia beta 6 continues to put up this prompt when opening an app for the first time after restarting your Mac.
macOS Sequoia beta 6 switches to monthly screen recording permission nags
Any third-party app that records the Mac’s screen and microphone needs explicit permission from the user. This includes apps like Keyboard Maestro, which uses screen recording to identify specific buttons on the screen. If Apple sticks to its decision, screenshot and screen recording apps like CleanShotX, PixelSnap, Zoom, Slack, WebEx, Discord and others will nag you monthly instead of weekly when macOS Sequoia launches to the public.
“App name] is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly access your screen and audio,” reads the updated prompt in macOS Sequoia beta 6. “This will allow [app name] to record your screen and system audio, including personal or sensitive information that may be visible or audible.”
The dialog offers two options. You can select Allow For One Month to do just that or choose Open System Settings to access the preference pane for managing screen recording permissions for installed apps.