Permissions
The four macOS permissions Screenify asks for, what each one unlocks, and what breaks quietly without them.
macOS gates screen capture, audio and input behind separate permissions. Screenify asks for them the first time each is needed rather than all at once on launch, so what you grant matches what you actually use.
All four live in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
What each one is for
| Permission | Needed for | Without it |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Recording | Capturing any screen, window or area | Nothing can be recorded |
| Microphone | Your voice during a recording, and voiceover in the editor | Recording still works, silently, with no mic track |
| Camera | The webcam overlay | Recording still works, with no camera |
| Accessibility | Cursor position and keystrokes | The recording carries no cursor track |
Screen Recording
The one permission nothing works without. macOS treats a change here as a change to what the app is allowed to see, so it may ask you to reopen Screenify before the new setting takes effect.
Accessibility — the one that fails quietly
This is listed as Input Monitoring in some macOS versions, and it is the permission most worth checking, because losing it doesn't produce an error.
Screenify uses it to record where the cursor was and what you typed, as a data track alongside the video. That track is what later powers:
- Automatic zoom — zoom segments proposed from your clicks, typing and pauses
- Keystroke display — showing the keys you pressed on screen
- Smart Clipping — the cursor and keystroke signals it correlates against silence
Without Accessibility, the recording still looks completely normal. It simply has no cursor data, so when you open the editor there is nothing for Auto Zoom to analyse and it proposes nothing. If Auto Zoom returns no segments on a recording you expected it to handle, check this permission first — it is almost always the reason.
Granting it after the fact does not help a recording that was already made. The data had to be captured at the time. Re-record that take.
Imported video
A video file you imported never had a cursor track, whatever your permissions are. Auto Zoom and keystroke display only apply to recordings Screenify made. Manual zoom works on anything.
Checking what you have
Screenify reads the current state of all four and shows you which are missing before a recording starts, with a button that opens the right pane in System Settings rather than making you find it.