Apple’s macOS Sequoia is about to take annoying to an all-new level, with the OS asking users to grant permission to screen recording apps every week and after every reboot.

Apple is well-known for its efforts to protect the privacy and security of its users, but its latest efforts may be a bridge too far for some users. According to 9to5Mac, the company is adding a prompt to Sequoia that will ask users to authorize access for any kind of third-party app that records screen activity or takes screenshots.

The prompt will display on first-run of the app, will ask again every week, and will ask every restart. To make matters worse, the prompt will display for every single app that falls into the impacted category.

Needless to say users and developers are not happy with the decision. xScope developer Craig Hockenberry was one of those speaking out about it on Mastodon.

I’ve always been proud that xScope is a tool that sits quietly in the background, ready when you need it.

So much for the “quietly” part…

Craig Hockenberry (@[email protected]) | August 6, 2024

Hockenberry did go on to say that Apple’s Persistent Content Capture might be a solution to the problem, but pointed out that Apple has yet to provide any documentation on how to actually use it.

“A friend pointed me to this the other day and it feels like a solution to the (justified) uproar over the screen sharing nag,” he writes.

“The issue here is that Apple has provided no documentation or any other guidance on how to get this entitlement and prevent an app from becoming nagware.”

Hockenberry goes on to say that Apple should have communicated such important changes ahead of time, rather than surprising users.

“You’d think that Apple would have figured out that letting developers know about Security changes ahead of time would be a good idea,” he continued.

“Instead, we get intrusive dialogs that cause everyone to (rightfully) freak out.”

There’s no doubt that screen capture and recording apps pose a larger security risk than some other categories. A malicious app could capture sensitive data and send it to bad actors. Apple is rightly concerned about making sure users understand the risks and have knowingly installed and activated such features.

Nonetheless, security that comes in the form of pestering users with endless prompts hardly seems like the right approach, and will hurt developers and end users alike.