Permissions
macOS asks you before an app can watch the keyboard, move other apps' windows, or see the screen. Macotron asks for a permission only when it, or a plugin you enabled, needs it.
How to grant a permission
- Open Settings → Permissions, or select Permissions needed at the top of the Macotron menu.
- Select Grant… on a row. macOS shows its own prompt, or System Settings opens at the right list.
- Turn on the switch next to Macotron in System Settings.
- Come back to Macotron. The row turns green by itself; Re-check checks at once.
While anything is missing, the menu bar icon has a red dot, the Permissions tab is orange, and Macotron re-checks every 3 seconds. A plugin's own page in Settings → Plugins lists the permissions it declared, with the same buttons.
macOS shows its prompt for each permission only once. After that, you can change your answer only in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Always required
| Permission | What needs it |
|---|---|
| Input Monitoring | Snippet expansion, drag-to-snap for windows, and any plugin that watches keys, the mouse, or trackpad gestures. |
| Accessibility | Moving, resizing, and focusing other apps' windows; reading selected text; plain-text paste; posting key presses and clicks. |
| Automation | Sending Apple events to other apps through System Events, for example to lock the screen or toggle system settings. |
| Menu Bar Items | Shown only when a plugin adds a menu bar item that macOS is hiding. Show… puts back the items Macotron can restore, and opens the Menu Bar section of System Settings for the rest. See Menu bar. |
Requested by plugins
These appear when an enabled plugin lists them in permissions in its macotron.plugin() header.
| Permission | Name in the header | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Recording | screenRecording | OCR, QR scan from the screen, Screen Summary, Color Blindness Simulator. |
| Camera | camera | QR scan with the camera, Camera & Mic Tools. Not asked for on a Mac with no camera. |
| Microphone | microphone | Recording audio. Not asked for on a Mac with no microphone. |
| Calendars | calendar | Meetings and any plugin that reads events. |
| Background Helper | helper | Fan Control. See below. |
Asked for when used
Some data has no row in the Permissions tab. macOS asks the first time a plugin reads it:
- Contacts, for Contacts Search.
- Reminders, for the Reminders plugin.
- Notifications, the first time a plugin shows a system banner.
- Local Network, for Apple TV discovery and other Bonjour browsing.
- Bluetooth, to read the radio and paired devices.
- Automation for a specific app, such as Notes, when a plugin drives that app.
The background helper
A few features need root, which an app cannot have. Macotron ships a small helper for those, currently fan-speed control. It is not a privacy permission: Install… registers the helper with macOS, and you then switch it on in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions. macOS asks for an administrator password.
Unlike the other rows, the helper row has Remove, and Reinstall… for when the helper stops working after an update. See Fan control.
A permission that will not turn green
- Quit and reopen Macotron. Input Monitoring and Screen Recording often take effect only after a restart.
- In System Settings, remove Macotron from the list with the minus button, then select Grant… again. This helps after you move or replace the app, because macOS ties the grant to the copy it first saw.
- Check that you switched on the copy in Applications, not an older copy somewhere else.