4 ms·

Before yesterday's Sequoia update, this was a daily permission prompt. In a vacuum, I don't consider this to be an extremely poor decision; the system picker h

Before yesterday's Sequoia update, this was a daily permission prompt. In a vacuum, I don't consider this to be an extremely poor decision; the system picker has a mostly-sane interface. Apps that capture the screen currently have an extremely long leash, and the hole for an app that decided to become malicious and start (for example) exfiltrating capture data is... extremely wide. However, for apps that took pains prior to macOS Sequoia in offering a reasonable and privacy-focused consent interface for screen capture (that doesn't use the picker, that is), this prompt is insulting and a slap in the face. Apple did not do a good job with its developers with the introduction of this 'feature'. Furthermore, the system picker lacks important functionality (can't capture apps without currently visible windows, can't do 'everything-except-these-apps' captures) and its configurations have no time-to-live, meaning an app would have to use the picker every single time it starts up, or else get this prompt. This really undermines the picker and the prompt's effectiveness, and it's disappointing to see something well-intentioned be self-defeating in this way. In general, ScreenCaptureKit is one of the most poorly managed and poorly functioning APIs Apple has introduced in recent years. It offers solid functionality, but every release introduces a legion of new bugs and performance regressions. I dunno if someone key to this APIs success quit or what, but it really needs to be fixed up by someone with actual care for the details.

throwaway290 2y ago
Apple could just make it obvious when something is recording the screen. If there is an orange dot what it means is a mystery, sometimes there is no further info in control center so you have to guess was it some recent discord call or you got pwned. Simply fixing that would address a lot of the problem. Is that better in Sequoia?
- lmpdev 2y ago
  I think that would be a lot easier to target as an exploit than the engineering they would have already done to the broader solution of permissions Especially if left unmonitored/updated
- tambourine_man 2y ago
  Of course. Draw a red rectangle around the screen, invert the menu bar, whatever. Instead, they are copying the “accept cookies” / Windows Vista policy of nagging the user to the point of oblivion.
  - catgirlinspace 2y ago
    an icon appears in the menu bar when an app is capturing the screen. clicking it says which app it is.
    - tambourine_man 2y ago
      That already exists, right? I’m guessing they are concerned it’s too subtle.
      - throwaway290 2y ago
        No, what I meant doesn't exist in current macOS. I record screen often so I just checked:) There's an abstract orange dot on control center and often no further info if you expand control center. Sometimes the dot is there even though I didn't record. Which app did it? Who knows.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

throwaway290 2y ago

Apple could just make it obvious when something is recording the screen. If there is an orange dot what it means is a mystery, sometimes there is no further info in control center so you have to guess was it some recent discord call or you got pwned. Simply fixing that would address a lot of the problem. Is that better in Sequoia?

lmpdev 2y ago
I think that would be a lot easier to target as an exploit than the engineering they would have already done to the broader solution of permissions Especially if left unmonitored/updated
tambourine_man 2y ago
Of course. Draw a red rectangle around the screen, invert the menu bar, whatever. Instead, they are copying the “accept cookies” / Windows Vista policy of nagging the user to the point of oblivion.
- catgirlinspace 2y ago
  an icon appears in the menu bar when an app is capturing the screen. clicking it says which app it is.
  - tambourine_man 2y ago
    That already exists, right? I’m guessing they are concerned it’s too subtle.
    - throwaway290 2y ago
      No, what I meant doesn't exist in current macOS. I record screen often so I just checked:) There's an abstract orange dot on control center and often no further info if you expand control center. Sometimes the dot is there even though I didn't record. Which app did it? Who knows.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]