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M1 Mac / Big Sur: Affinity Designer asking to record my screen!


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For everyone's information, I've reported this to Apple. I assumed it was result of something OS-side. The Apple Advisor shared my concern and said, "why would they want to do that?"

If Serif wants to know how we use our macs and software, they can ask appropriately. This is just plain skeezy, and very jarring in light of the rampant disrespect of privacy being engaged in by various parties, per news stories you can read almost every day.

The story that taking a recording of my computer screen - not a portion, but the entire thing - for the reason of color picker functionality..well...

that dog don't hunt.

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13 minutes ago, VectorCat said:

The Apple Advisor shared my concern and said, "why would they want to do that?"

As every so often, that Apple "advisor" didn't have a clue.

17 minutes ago, VectorCat said:

This is just plain skeezy

You know as they say: If everything else fails, read the FAQ'in FAQ. ;)

 

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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"As every so often, that Apple "advisor" didn't have a clue."

Why should I doubt Apple over Serif?

"You know as they say: If everything else fails, read the FAQ'in FAQ."

So we have to waste time doing a search to find a post on a forum from 2 years ago?

Wouldn't it be much more respectful for Serif to explain this to users within the software?

 

 

 

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24 minutes ago, VectorCat said:

Forgive me, but the fact that this issue is addressed in the FAQ does not make the story any better. Is the user allowed to review said capture before allowing it to whistle off to wherever?

 

It's not "whistling off" to anywhere.

It's used in picking a color from your screen to use in your document.

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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26 minutes ago, VectorCat said:

Is the user allowed to review said capture before allowing it to whistle off to wherever?

You are as you have discovered free to block the screen recording permission. Problem solved.

I don't think it records anything in any case, just a frame buffer to pick the colour value from. Turn the permission on and monitor you disc use/network traffic. Pretty sure you will not see anything happening.

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Every app that uses a similar functionality like Affinity's color picker will face the same restrictions on Catalina and beyond. This is a security mechanism built into the MacOS. If a 3rd party app wants to pick a portion of the screen pixels outside its own windows – and that's what the Affinity color picker is supposed to do by design as a feature – it is "recording" the screen; to put it in "Applespeak".

So, you can always deny the permission.
But then don't complain if you can't pick a color from your favorite online image database in your browser or whatever for use in Affinity.

Similarly, a few weeks ago I have programmed and tested an Automator Service plugin that interacts with Affinity apps via AppleScript's System Events framework (the only method to somewhat script Affinity apps at the moment). On Catalina I was presented with three such dialog windows until I was even able to run my plugin. Catalina (and obviously Bug Sir as well) is totally paranoid. But there's no way around it if you want to use these OS wide functions.

(For the record: my main MacOS of choice is El Capitan. What a relief every time I reboot the Mac after having to do something on the Cataparanoialina partition…)

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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 "Catalina (and obviously Bug Sir as well) is totally paranoid."

Excuse me, but being faced with a pop-up out of the blue that says that a software "would like to record this computer's screen" without any further explanation does merit concern.

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, ronald618 said:

being faced with a pop-up out of the blue that says that a software "would like to record this computer's screen" without any further explanation does merit concern.

apple.com/feedback

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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Oh, and if really, REALLY everything else fails and your brain is short before complete meltdown, there's still the … wait for it: Mac Help to the rescue!

system_preferences_privacy.png.62bb7b0b408c7c46c0e022ee7dec47db.png

Hope that helps. :)

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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2 hours ago, ronald618 said:

Excuse me, but being faced with a pop-up out of the blue that says that a software "would like to record this computer's screen" without any further explanation does merit concern.

Then tell Apple about your concerns because the popup is coming from the OS, not from the Affinity app.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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"Then tell Apple about your concerns because the popup is coming from the OS, not from the Affinity app."

I'm happy to know Apple provides that info. So my concern was not with them.

I have never before had a software trying to record my computer screen.

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1 minute ago, ronald618 said:

I have never before had a software trying to record my computer screen.

All it is trying to do is pick a color value displayed on the screen. It is not recording anything else. So Apple's popup message is misleading.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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  • Staff

"capture" is more accurate, but "record" is probably more widely (mis)understood. I think it is scary on purpose, but very unhelpful to those like us, trying to colour pick off another on screen application 

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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I don´t have any Affinity app entry like shown in the screenshot above on my M1 Mac/BigSur and have used the color picker of course. 🤔

Well - wait - it's not in "Accessibility" it's in "Screenrecording": 🤮

Capture.png.50c1ad71f9c896fb86e96ac5f262ed7d.png

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1 hour ago, PixelPest said:

it's not in "Accessibility" it's in "Screenrecording"

My screenshot is from El Capitan which is less strict than Catalina and beyond. Its purpose was only to demonstrate the location of the "?" button. :)
Accessibility is the only section where I had to allow Affinity on El Capitan because I'm accessing its UI via AppleScript > System Events to run a few UI macros from the global Services menu.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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I see - but the OP is on M1/Mac/BigSUR - just in case he's looking up the wrong tab. 😉

And yes - thanks to Applejuicefactory being paranoia as one only can be. On the set up on this machine you have to go to this "verify"-process for every app. Being asked to allow a content creator app to allow access to save a file to HD is kinda nonsense. But here we go. 😶

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39 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

the OP is on M1/Mac/BigSUR - just in case he's looking up the wrong tab. 😉

Yeah, I know. But I was really just too lazy rebooting my MBP to Catalina just for that one screenshot. :)

38 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

But here we go. 

There's a reason*) why I'm not moving beyond El Capitan for the time being…

*) Actually, there are many reasons, this being just one of them.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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OP here;

The dialogue box took me to the correct spot straight away. It’s under Screen Recording in Big Sur. I wasn’t confused about the where and what of turning this thing off; my Wacom tablet software made a similar - and to me, weird - request. While I like being consulted on such things, some such requests give me the feeling I’m handing over the combination to the Safe, so to speak.

I tried the feature - turned on the bit that allows Designer to record - sample - capture (pick your verb) and it works well; I can see great utility in this function.

I’m going to take ownership of my initial reaction to the alert I received.

It isn’t Serif’s fault which phrasing is used in that alert box. Anyone paying even glancing attention to the news knows that there is something of a war for privacy going on right now, with the average person being swept up in a wave of advancing technology and little to no say about how it’s used, and about how our information is used / misused.

I am trusted by clients to safeguard their information. Just imagine a conversation going something like, “you allowed a software application to record your screen?”  < this is the kind of pressure placed by that ill-worded alert message. A person’s livelihood potentially on the line.

I’m extremely comfortable using technology. I practice excellent security hygiene, and if anything that I let inside announces that it wants to “record my screen,” I will automatically be on alert.

Life in 2021.

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