Glossary
Screen Recording permission
The macOS grant an app needs before it can see the contents of your screen. Without it a recorder captures the wallpaper and nothing on top of it.
macOS does not let an app see the screen until you say so. Screen Recording is the grant that says so, listed under Privacy and Security in System Settings, and an app without it is handed the desktop wallpaper with every window removed. The app still records, the file still saves, and it is only on playback that the screen turns out to be empty.
What it covers
Any pixel that belongs to another app or to the system. An app can always record its own windows; the moment it captures a browser, a menu bar or the desktop, it needs the grant. On macOS 15 and later the same switch covers system audio, and the pane is named Screen & System Audio Recording to say so.
How it is granted
The first time an app asks, macOS shows a dialog with a button that opens the right pane in System Settings. Turn the app on there, and then quit and reopen the app: the grant is read when the app starts, and one that asked before it was granted has to ask again. That restart is the step most guides leave out and the reason "I allowed it and it still records nothing" is so common.
Since macOS 15, the system also re-confirms the grant every so often with a dialog that says the app can access this computer's screen and audio. It is a reminder that the grant exists; clicking Continue to Allow keeps things as they were.
The other three
A recorder usually wants more than one grant. The microphone and the camera each have their own, asked for only when the device is turned on. Accessibility is the odd one: it lets an app see where you click and type, which is nothing to do with the picture and everything to do with placing zooms on the clicks afterwards. Prequel's permissions page lists all four and what each one is for.
Related terms
- Frame rateThe number of still pictures a video shows each second, written as fps. Screen recordings are usually made at 30 or 60.
- ResolutionThe size of a video's picture in pixels, width by height. 1080p is 1920 by 1080; 4K is 3840 by 2160.
- Retina and HiDPIA display that draws each point of the interface with four physical pixels, so text is sharp. A screen recording of one is twice the width and height it looks.
- ScreencastA recording of a computer screen with narration, made to show somebody how something works. The word predates screen recording as a category and still means the same thing.
Questions people ask
- Why is my screen recording just the desktop wallpaper?
- The app has not been granted Screen Recording. macOS still lets it record, but hands it a frame with every window stripped out. Grant it under System Settings, Privacy and Security, then Screen Recording, and restart the app.
- Does an app need Screen Recording to record its own window?
- No. An app can record what it draws itself without the grant. It needs Screen Recording the moment it captures any pixel that belongs to another app or to the system.
- Why does macOS keep asking me to allow screen recording?
- Since macOS 15, the system re-confirms a Screen Recording grant every so often for apps that use it, with a dialog that says the app can access the screen. Clicking Continue to Allow keeps it working. It is a reminder; the grant is still in place.