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Hello, I’m randomly getting the warning message, “Adobe Illustrator is capturing your screen.” Does anyone else have the same issue? Why might they be capturing my screen?
Hi @khalibauri,
I am able to replicate this behavior on my end with the Eyedropper tool, even after denying screen recording permissions. After checking with the product team, they’ve confirmed that Illustrator uses Apple’s screenshot API to pick colors. This allows it to capture a 1px pixel’s color within the app window itself or outside if permission is granted. Even if screen recording permissions are denied, Illustrator can still pick colors from within its window.
With the recent change
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They are not. This is just Apple's bad wording meaning that Illustrator is allowed to do that.
If you never need to pick up colors from your screen with the eyedropper tool, then you can go into the system options and turn off the setting that allows Illustrator to record your screen. When using the eyedropper, Illustrator might then throw a warning that it cannot pick up something.
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Hello @khalibauri,
Would you mind sharing a screen recording of your workflow when using Illustrator and getting this prompt along with the Privacy Settings set for Illustrator (https://adobe.ly/40HCgGq) so I can check it with the team?
Illustrator uses Apple's screenshot API to pick colors outside the Illustrator window with the Eyedropper tool. Apple has enhanced security in the recent OS updates to let users know which applications are recording the screen, whether you pick a color value of a single pixel or recording the entire screen.
Illustrator does not record the user’s entire screen but only the single pixel from which the Eyedropper tool is used to pick a color.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav
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@Anubhav M schrieb:
Apple has enhanced security in the recent OS updates
I guess, "enhance" is not the word I would use for what they did.
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Hello Anubhav, thanks for your reply. I’ve actually turned off the screen recording feature, but it’s still happening anyway.
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Hi @khalibauri,
I am able to replicate this behavior on my end with the Eyedropper tool, even after denying screen recording permissions. After checking with the product team, they’ve confirmed that Illustrator uses Apple’s screenshot API to pick colors. This allows it to capture a 1px pixel’s color within the app window itself or outside if permission is granted. Even if screen recording permissions are denied, Illustrator can still pick colors from within its window.
With the recent changes introduced by Apple in macOS Sequoia, new privacy and security notifications now appear when an app accesses screen content. This is why you see the “Adobe Illustrator 2025 is capturing your screen” message— this is an expected behavior. macOS notifies users whenever an app is accessing screen content, even if it’s just for picking the color of a single pixel. So, even though you’ve denied permission for Illustrator to pick a pixel color outside the app, it can still capture colors within the Illustrator window, and this notification will appear. There’s nothing to be concerned about.
Let me know if you need further clarification!
Best,
Anshul
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Thank you for clarifying.