macOS Sequoia screen recording permission nags can now be permanently vanquished

macOS Sequoia screen recording permission reminders can now be permanently vanquished, thanks to a new pay-what-you-like app.

Apple’s new security feature was intended to make Macs safer, by reminding us that we’d granted a powerful and potentially dangerous permission to an app, but many experienced users simply found it irritating …

macOS Sequoia screen recording permissions

Usually, when you grant an app permission to do something – like access your location – that’s a one-off deal. But with Sequoia, you’d be nagged on a weekly basis and asked whether you still wanted that permission in place, which was super-annoying if you use a third-party screenshot app.

Apple’s argument was that any app with this permission would have the ability to see everything you do, and that was such a big deal a one-off okay wasn’t sufficient.

The company partially relented, switching the reminders from weekly to monthly, but it can still be annoying.

Amnesia solves the problem

Jordi Bruin, the developer behind apps like MacWhisper and MacGPT, has now offered a solution. It’s a simple app to edit the .plist for each app, ensuring that it will no longer nag you.

If you’re not familiar with .plist files, it stands for property lists, and is essentially where macOS stores app preferences.

Technically, you can’t tell an app to never ask you again, but you can set the next reminder date to a date far into the future – say after your projected lifespan, after the expected heat death of the universe, that sort of thing. And that’s what Amnesia does.

Amnesia is a pay-what-you-like app, letting you choose the amount it is worth to you. This includes $0 if desired, though if you take the time to install it, that kinda suggests it’s worth something to you.

There are a couple of things to bear in mind when first using the app:

When you run the app for the first time to have to give access to the folder where the .plist is stored. The app reads and adjusts the timestamp for the apps you want to change.

~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.replayd/ScreenCaptureApprovals.plist

If you are on 15.1 make sure you are using version 1.1 or newer.

You can download Amnesia here.

Image: Jordi Bruin