“Adobe Lightroom Classic” is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly acce

Question

Hi there,

While trying to use the color picker found within the Color Grading panel, an alert popped-up with the message:

“Adobe Lightroom Classic” is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly access your screen and audio. This will allow Adobe Lightroom Classic to record your screen and system audio, including personal or sensitive information that may be visible or audible.

I guess it is needed so we can inspect the colors on the image we are working on, but I don't understand why such a broad permission is needed, as the image is shown within the confines of Lightroom app. As I understand from the message, we are granting Lightrrom permission to record our screen and audio system-wide, so whichever other application is open, Lightroom could access it's contents displayed on screen.

If somebody knows the reason and could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Conrad_C · Accepted Answer

I guess it is needed so we can inspect the colors on the image we are working on, but I don't understand why such a broad permission is needed, as the image is shown within the confines of Lightroom app. As I understand from the message, we are granting Lightrrom permission to record our screen and audio system-wide, so whichever other application is open, Lightroom could access it's contents displayed on screen.
By @pau090

It might be possible for Adobe to improve on this and restrict the scope to the tiny bit it needs to sample for the specific feature, but the fact is that a very large part of the problem is how Apple has designed the framework for these permissions alerts. There have been complaints from users of many Mac apps, and many Mac app developers have had to explain to their users what constraints they are under that result in permissions alerts that seem unnecessarily vague or wide in scope, or appear too often.

I posted a reply in this community a few years ago about this with some examples:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-requesting-access-to-record-my-computer-s-screen-any-comments/m-p/11339879#M353263

For more recent commentary, read this article from 2024 and the many comments after it:

macOS 15 Sequoia’s Excessive Permissions Prompts Will Hurt Security – TidBITS

TidBITS is a publication run and followed by respected and credible Mac experts, and has been around almost as many years as the Mac itself.

Also from 2024:

Sequoia Screen Recording Prompts and the Persistent Content Capture Entitlement - Compiles a long list of comments including many from well-known Mac developers; I use apps by several of those small Mac developers.

I don’t know if Apple has improved this in macOS 26 Tahoe, haven’t upgraded yet.

JohanElzenga · Answer

Just do it. It is required because you want to be able to pick any color, also a color outside Lightroom. If you do not trust Adobe with this, then don't use their products.

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