privacy

As a sort-of follow up to my post about Apple’s macOS Engineers running out of places to put new permission dialogs in, I had a thought, because, I do have those from time to time.

Here’s what’s up: In macOS, when you want to, for example, create a screenshot app and want it to be able to actually take screenshots, you’ll have to get permission from the user for it. With the upcoming macOS 15 Sequoia, that is going to be upped to two dialogs. One: the initial permission request, and two: a weekly reminder, asking if you want to continue to allow this app to capture your screen.
Here’s where my aforementioned thought comes in: Wouldn’t it be nice if a screenshot app from the Mac App Store was able to, like, take screenshots, right out of the box, without any permission dialogs?
I feel like apps on the Mac App Store should get some perks for being reviewed and vetted by Apple’s App Review.

So here’s my thought, wrapped into a couple of examples, to really drive my point home ad nauseam:
– A developer of a screenshot app that has successfully gone through App Review to be published on the Mac App Store should be able to request a default screen capture entitlement for it, which lets macOS know that no permission dialogs need to be presented, or asked for weekly, at all. It can just take screenshots right after download, because, you know, it’s a screenshot app, and that’s what the user downloaded it for.

– A developer of an audio recording app that has been reviewed by App Review to be released on the Mac App Store should be able to request a default Microphone recording entitlement, so it can record audio right after download, because, you know, it’s an audio recording app, and that’s what the user downloaded it for.

– A developer of an app that uses the user’s current location for core features that has successfully been reviewed by App Review to be released on the Mac App Store should be able to request a default Location entitlement so it can get its work done right after download, because that’s what the user downloaded it for.

Shouldn’t that be sort of the point of App Review?
I kind of understand making apps obtained from outside the Mac App Store jump through permission dialogs (to an extent, I just hate the new weekly permission reminders so much), but I feel like apps obtained from the Mac App Store could appear so much more user-friendly and polished without them, and would definitely make apps obtained from there feel special.

I guess what I’m saying is: Apple, please stop this Tour-de-farce security permission dialog onslaught and give users and developers some credit.

P.S.: I do realize it’s a pipe-dream. With all the ways stuff can be kept from App Review – which has happened time and time again – it’s not a system fit for such an implementation. Which, in turn, draws App Review’s reason for existing into question altogether.

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With Yoink for Mac‘s clipboard history working again on macOS Big Sur and newer, I’ve seen, in forums and such, some questions about how the clipboard history operates and what it stores, in regards to privacy. I’ve answered those questions, but figured I’d let everyone know about it as well here on my blog, since this *should* be publicly available info:

General Notes about Yoink’s Clipboard History

  1. By default, the clipboard history feature is disabled.
    It has to be manually enabled by either clicking onto the widget in Notification Center, or in Yoink’s preferences, under Extensions.
  2. The clipboard history feature can be disabled at any time (and will clear any stored items at that point) in Yoink’s preferences, under Extensions.
  3. Individual items can be deleted in the Clipboard History browser, accessible by command-clicking onto an item in the widget, by selecting Clipboard History > Organize… in Yoink’s contextual menu, or by clicking Organize… in Yoink’s preferences under Extensions.

What the Clipboard History stores

By default, Yoink stores anything you copy or cut, be it some text from a document, an image on a website, or a file in Finder, for example. Please read “What the Clipboard History does not store” below for important exceptions to this.

The clipboard history can be configured by you to completely ignore copy/cut operations in certain apps. This can be done in Yoink’s preferences, under Extensions, by pressing “Ignored Applications: Edit…”

The clipboard history is stored locally on your Mac and does not leave your Mac, unless you do it manually.

What the Clipboard History does *not* store

Yoink completely ignores cut/copy operations from any app or process that has one of the following in its name:
Keychain, Enpass, 1Password, KeePass, LastPass, Password, Kaspersky, mSecure, AppLocker, Keeper Password, Passwort, oneSafe, Secrets, Strongbox, RememBear, Dashlane and Bitwarden.
Anything copied from an app whose name contains one of the above (case insensitive) does not get stored in Yoink’s clipboard history.

In addition to that, Yoink also ignores copied content from any app, if the resulting clipboard content contains any of the following data types (as suggested by developers, for developers, on nspasteboard.org):
com.agilebits.onepassword, org.nspasteboard.TransientType, org.nspasteboard.ConcealedType and org.nspasteboard.AutoGeneratedType.
If you copy something from an app, and that app writes, say, a string to the pasteboard, and also specifies one of the data types above, the clipboard history will not pick it up.

If you have any suggestions, possible additions, questions or feedback regarding this, please do mail me.

I’ve also updated my privacy policy to clarify all of this.

Long story short: I’m not interested in anybody’s data. I don’t do any tracking, no usage statistics, and, if my apps use your internet connection, it’s exclusively for a specific feature that it offers to you, the user.

Take care : )
– Matthias

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