Software Development

If you’re using Yoink on macOS Sequoia, you might have encountered an issue where Yoink would not accept any files anymore:

Or if you’re using Transloader on macOS Sequoia, you might find your Link- and File Actions not working correctly:

Basically any app that handles file URLs and saves them as a security-scoped bookmark for later access can be bitten by this bug, currently occurring on macOS 15.0 and 15.0.1.

This is caused by a bug in the macOS daemon process called “ScopedBookmarkAgent”, according to a CoreOS engineer on macOS, as stated on the Apple Developer Forums:

What you’re hitting is bug in “ScopedBookmarksAgent” [sic] which can cause it hang if it happens to have been launched when the keychain was also locked (for example, late in the screen lock process). That bug is fixed as of macOS 15.1 beta 4.

– DTS Engineer, CoreOS/Hardware

The downside is that 3rd party developers like myself cannot fix this in their apps. Apple has to, in macOS.
The upside is that with macOS 15.1, the bug will reportedly be fixed and things should work as they used to.

As a temporary workaround, you can:
– Quit Yoink (or any other afflicted app)
– Using Activity Monitor.app, quit the ScopedBookmarkAgent process
– Relaunch Yoink (or any other afflicted app), and it should work again (for a while)

My apologies for the inconvenience. Here’s to hoping macOS 15.1 will be released soon.

Cheers,
– Matthias

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For my screen-capture all-rounder app ScreenFloat, I’ve received feedback from users that, under macOS Sequoia, their keyboard shortcuts suddenly stopped working.

Well, with macOS 15 Sequoia comes an undocumented change that boggles the mind (and which developers have never been told about during the macOS upgrade’s beta period) :
In 3rd-Party-Apps, users are no longer allowed to set up keyboard shortcuts that use only the option ⌥, only the shift ⇧, or only option + shift ⌥ ⇧ keys as the modifier (like ⌥ ⇧ 2).

Why? As an Apple Frameworks engineer puts it, “to limit the ability of key-logging in malware”. A make–shift reason, if you ask me (or the other developers in that thread):

I also don’t get the logic. The change only impacts sandboxed apps, but malware wouldn’t use sandboxing. Plus, any app can request input monitoring and misuse it, so this mostly hurts legitimate apps and their users, and does very little to stop actual malware.
– sindresorhus

That’s sadly something that’s becoming more and more routine at Apple: punish developers that adhere to the sandbox and Mac App Store rules, for no good reason.

How does this even prevents key loggers?
– IzsakSVK

Beats me (and Apple).

Of course, as always, Apple’s own software is exempt from this restriction, as you can see in this screenshot of System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, where I could set it up just fine.
Why this matters? Consistency. Users expect that if it works in Apple’s software, it should also work in other apps they use. And I agree!

Just yet another change where Apple oversteps its bounds to prevent users from configuring and using their own computers how they want to.

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macOS 15 Sequoia introduced a new, annoying screen capture permission reminder that has brought on a lot of push-back from developers (myself included).

Now, Ricci Adams has found a way to virtually stop the nagging for specific apps. (I found out about this from Jeff Johnson’s Desolation of Blog blog).

First things first: Please use your own discretion when trying this. Consider if you’re savvy enough to work with the Terminal, and if you really want to remove the permission reminder for an app.

Apparently, there is a TCC (Transparency, Consent and Control) – protected file that keeps track of when to show the next nag screen for specific screen capturing apps, located at

~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.replayd/ScreenCaptureApprovals.plist

Using Terminal (which first needs to be granted Full Disk Access in System Settings > Privacy & Security), you can set that date far into the future so you won’t ever see the nag again.

For example, I wanted to make absolutely sure it never bothers me again for my own app ScreenFloat, so I just set it to my retirement date: January 1st, 4321.

defaults write ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.apple.replayd/ScreenCaptureApprovals.plist "/Applications/ScreenFloat.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenFloat/" -date "4321-01-01 00:00:00 +0000"

Restart your Mac (or log out and back in) so it accepts the new defaults, and you’re all set.

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With Tameno, you set auto-repeating, “tapping” timers – the perfect companion for repetitive tasks.
It’s available for your Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV as a universal binary – always ready, wherever you might need it.

Set up an interval between 2 seconds and 20 minutes, and Tameno lets you know each time it elapses (by tapping you, by sound, or by screen flashing), and then re-sets itself to alert you again.

Posts in this Series

Part IHello, Tameno
Part IITameno on Your Apple Watch
Part IIITameno on Your iPhone and iPad
Part IVTameno on Your Mac
Part VTameno on Your Apple TV

Part V – Tameno on Your Apple TV

Tameno on your Apple TV can help you doing stretches, mediate, practice yoga, and more.
Let’s take a look at how it works.

Table of Contents
Starting Your First Interval

Starting your first interval is as easy as launching the app and selecting Start Tapping.

Note: You can also use the play/pause button on your Apple TV’s remote to start and stop Tameno.

Changing the Interval

Use the + and – buttons at the sides to increase and decrease your interval.
Use single clicks on your remote to change it by seconds, click-and-hold to change it by minutes.

Accessing Recently Used Intervals

At the top left, select the back-in-time button to access your recently used intervals.

Settings

At the top right, select the gear button to access Tameno’s settings.

Count to Zero

When enabled, instead of counting a 5 second interval down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (etc), Tameno counts it down as 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 (etc).

(Recycling the video for Apple Watch here, but it’s just the same in the Apple TV app)
Audio Feedback

If selected, Tameno plays a “Tick” sound every time your interval elapses.

Visual Feedback

Flashes your screen in the color of your choice with every elapsing interval.
For a video of this, please see “Starting Your First Interval“.

That’s a Wrap

That’s all there is to Tameno. It’s a simple app that lets you use auto-repeating timers so you don’t have to count down in your head anymore, freeing your mind for more important things. I hope you like it!

Links and Availability

Tameno is a universal one-time purchase on the App Stores, so a single purchase allows you to use the app on your Apple Watches, iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs.
It costs USD 3.99 / EUR 3,99 / GBP 3.99 and is available in English and German. It requires watchOS 9.4, iOS 16.6, iPadOS 16.6, macOS 13.5, and tvOS 16.6.
Complications and Widgets on Apple Watch require watchOS 10. The interactive widget requires macOS 14 and iOS 17.

If you have any feedback, questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me – I’d love to hear from you.

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