Why does macOS ask for screen recording permission?

macOS gates the screenshot and the name of the application in front behind two separate permissions, and it only asks once.

The two permissions

Screen Recording

This is the one macOS names after screen recording, and Worktivity needs it for the periodic screenshot your organization asked for. Without it the screenshot is never taken. Everything else keeps working.

Accessibility

This one lets Worktivity read which application is in front and, when that application is a browser, the host of the page open in it. Without it every entry is recorded as unknown.

Neither permission gives Worktivity what you type or the title of the window. The full list of what a record carries is in what Worktivity collects.

When you are asked

Right after you sign in, before any tracking starts. On macOS the setup has three steps: a plain list of what is recorded, then one step per permission. On Windows and Linux the operating system asks for nothing, so those two steps are not drawn at all.

Continue stays inactive until the permission is on, and the reason is written above the button. Both steps appear even when your organization has screenshots turned off: the setup looks at the permission, not at the organization setting.

The three buttons

• Grant access asks macOS for the permission. The system window appears the first time only. Pressing it also registers Worktivity in the macOS permission list, and that matters: an app that never asked does not appear in System Settings, so there is no switch to turn on.
• Open System Settings opens the matching pane.
• Quit and reopen Worktivity appears on the Screen Recording step only.

Why Screen Recording needs a restart

macOS answers the Screen Recording question once for a running program and keeps that answer until the program ends. Turning the switch on does not change what Worktivity was already told, so the step keeps saying the permission is off. Quitting and reopening the app fixes it, and the button on that step does exactly that. Accessibility is read live and needs no restart.

Afterwards

The setup is not shown again. The live status of both permissions sits in Settings under Permissions, with a link to the system pane when one is missing. Turning a permission off later does not push you back into the setup.

The Mac App Store build asks for the same two permissions. Which build belongs on which Mac is in the desktop app comparison.