macOS permissions for the Desktop Agent, explained
What Screen Recording and Accessibility each actually control — and which one you really need. Windows has no equivalent permission step.
Concept · Audience: everyone
What Screen Recording and Accessibility each actually control — and which one you really need. Windows has no equivalent permission step.
What this does
Clears up which of the two macOS permissions the Desktop Agent asks for actually matters for application tracking.
Who can do this
Every Mac user installing the Desktop Agent.
What happens next
Screen Recording is the permission that matters for application tracking — it's what lets the agent see which application and window is currently in focus. Accessibility is a separate, optional permission that only enables keyboard and mouse activity counts (never actual keystrokes or characters, only counts) — it has nothing to do with whether your applications are tracked. If Accessibility isn't granted, application tracking works exactly the same; you simply won't get keyboard/mouse count metrics.
Important notes
Do not treat a missing Accessibility permission as a tracking problem — check Screen Recording first if applications aren't appearing.
macOS does not notify an app in real time if you revoke a permission — Staffintra re-checks permission state periodically (including every heartbeat) so a revoked permission is detected and reflected without requiring you to restart the agent.
None of this applies on Windows — application tracking there does not require an equivalent OS permission grant.
Troubleshooting
Screen Recording is greyed out or won't toggle on — quit and reopen the Desktop Agent after granting the permission in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording — macOS sometimes requires the app to fully restart before a newly granted permission takes effect.
You're asked to re-approve Accessibility even though you already granted it before — during Staffintra's current interim Mac release, an agent update can require re-approving Accessibility even if it was already granted — this is expected, and does not affect your connection or your application tracking.
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