It’s been over a year with these macOS pop-ups and I still have any idea why an app is asking, what should I say, what is the penalty for choosing Don’t Allow, etc. What a frustrating experience.

(Edit: I’m showing Chrome here but I am getting them for so many other apps without seemingly any rhyme or reason.)

Well, this explains… some things.
I can’t help but think this whole system just feels poorly thought through in terms of design and UX writing. I don’t imagine Digital Color Meter is capturing my screen, and in iOS 26 beta this dialog somehow became even more scary (granted, it’s a beta).
@mwichary How would the colorimeter know the colors without capturing the screen?
@bitnacht To me, there’s a difference between capturing and having access to. Capturing implies storage.
@bitnacht Plus, I just used it. I was there and saw what was happening. What does it help me to see this notification pop up a minute after I’m done?
@mwichary I don't know if you are venting or asking a question and I don't have all the details. So my idea is: You have installed an App and granted it privileges to do a task. After that task is finished the app starts using these privileges without you knowing about it. The trick is to detect when a voluntary user interaction triggers the access. There are heuristics for that (well behaved app necessary). The OS can't reliably determine if the app stores the image.

@bitnacht Thanks. The details are in my other posts under the original. But just to wrap up this one:

- this notification happens at a strange moment (after I put it aside) that adds more questions rather than providing answers
- this is Apple’s own app, so they know exactly what it’s doing
- even for other apps, there is a better way to describe it

I understand how this all works in principle. I just think a lot of details are wrong.

@mwichary @bitnacht if anything, I do appreciate that Apple is subjecting its own app to its own privacy shenanigans instead of giving themselves a leg up on third parties via an custom exemption
@numist @bitnacht Yeah, I was thinking it could even be educational in a sense. I just… don’t like it as much. It really feels very scary for a simple feature.

@mwichary @bitnacht Wasted opportunity. One of my own side projects (https://github.com/numist/Switch) is also affected by this (and does capture window contents, though it doesn't record them) and I'm sympathetic to the system's problem where it knows an app has access to the screen's contents but no notion of what that information is being used for.

You kinda *have* to assume the worst. Is this free colour picker app sending my bank balances to phishers as part of their mark selection? Who can say!

GitHub - numist/Switch: A window-based context switcher for the Mac

A window-based context switcher for the Mac. Contribute to numist/Switch development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub