Illustrator is spying on me. Recording my screen without permission MACOS

[ivan_7227]

Adobe software is spying on me. It is recording my screen without my permission again and again. and no it is not something that I haven't previously disabled on settings. It is getting activated again! I never give my permission for this. and it is breaking my privacy. Even with the permission disabled and app sometimes offline it continues to record the screen. 

I have googled similar problems from other people they just say that they have to do it to get the colors with is lie. It works perfectly without a need to record the screen. It is a direct interference with my privacy.
Anyone has any idea how to disable that? I have tried everything.

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from cc desktop bugs">

[Monika Gause]

How do you find out that it is actually recording?

The permission is need to pick up colors from placed images and gradients.

[ivan_7227]

you don't need any permission to record the screen in order to extract the color as you have all the colors within the file / app code. call it whatever. you never needed to record a screen before, al lthe information is there. the screen record never was necessary. this is an excuse to get access to whole screen and continuous recordings.

secondly I never gave my permission for screen recording, and it is reappearing as activated, even after me disabling it — meaning that the app is also outpassing the system settings without my permission. You see a sample on the screenshot provided — this is something that should never happen.

[Monika Gause]

This is a public forum with 95% of people not being staff. The colors in placed images have always been calculated from the screen representation. ANd that permission was required, has been caused by a Mac OS update some years back. 

If you want to talk the the engineers, please post there: https://illustrator.uservoice.com

If you want Illustrator to ask for permission, please make a feature request. 

[Ton Frederiks]

Which version of MacOS and Illustrator are you using?

If I turn off the setting to record my screen, Illustrator can still pick up colors with the eyedropper from within the document. If I move the eyedropper outside the Illustrator window it does not pick up colors from my screen.

[Cheryl26731285ptqb]

YES. I agree. This is a total breach of privacy. Even though I deny the recording, Adobe has recorded my screen while working in Adobe Premiere and After Effects anyway!

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Cheryl26731285ptqb, @ivan_7227,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your concerns. As Monika and Ton rightly pointed out, the screen recording permission was introduced in macOS Catalina (10.15). Illustrator only requires this permission if you need to use the Eyedropper Tool to sample colors outside the Illustrator window. If you do not need this feature, you can disable the permission under system preferences.

Learn more here: (https://adobe.ly/4gn6ROB).

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav

[gonzalocortijo]

I’m experiencing the same privacy issue. I haven’t been asked for permission to record my screen, the Screen & Audío Recording permission toggle is set to off, I’ve never used the Eyedropper Tool to sample colors outside Illustrator, and my Mac keeps warning me occasionally that Illustrator is recording my screen. Can you please provide a solution to this problem? Thanks.

[Monika Gause]

Just turn it off in the system settings.

[gonzalocortijo]

Thanks, but it’s always been turned off. That’s why I find it strange.

[Bethhhh Rubin]

Its happening to me too 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Gee wizzz,

I'm sorry to hear that you're facing the same issue. I was able to replicate this problem in certain situations when I used Teams for screen sharing while also running Illustrator. Could you please let me know if you've utilized any video conferencing or screen recording software prior to seeing this prompt?

At present, Illustrator is not fully optimized for macOS Sequoia, and it seems this issue arises only with the latest macOS version, not with macOS Sonoma/macOS Monterey.

I will relay this information to the product team for further examination. In the meantime, you can ignore this message as it appears to be a temporary issue.

We've also received reports that this problem resolved itself after updating the OS to macOS 15.2 and Illustrator to version 29.2. Please consider updating and sharing your findings.

If you have any more questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out. We are here to help.

Anubhav 

[maricur]

Anubhav I am experiencing the same issue, and I have the latest version of both Mac and Illustrator. Illustrator records my screen even when the program is closed and with video and audio recording permissions disabled in the operating system.
This isn't a problem that can be solved by just updating the software. What should we do?

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @maricur,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns. I understand how frustrating this issue must be.

Currently, based on reports and testing, the issue seems to occur primarily on macOS Sequoia when running Illustrator alongside certain screen-sharing or recording applications like Microsoft Teams.

Could you please confirm if you are using any such applications? If yes, I recommend:

1. Restarting your system.

2. Observe whether Illustrator continues to record your screen without any of these apps open or launched.

If the issue persists even after a restart and without these apps being used, it might be related to compatibility with macOS Sequoia. As a temporary workaround, I recommend downgrading your macOS to Sonoma, where this issue has not been observed.

Your feedback will help us further investigate and relay this to the product team.

Looking forward to hearing from you so we can assist further.

Best regards,

Anshul Saini

[Bethhhh Rubin]

Exactly the same as Maricur. Latest version of eveverything. Permissions disabled. Even happens when illustrator is closed. 

[Bethhhh Rubin]

also 

1. Restarting your system.  - done 

2. Observe whether Illustrator continues to record your screen without any of these apps open or launched. - no i am not using teams or any other recording software. 

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Gee wizzz,

Thank you for confirming the details! We’ll need to involve our product team to investigate this further. In the meantime, if it’s feasible, you might consider rolling back to macOS Sonoma to see if the issue persists.

We appreciate your patience and understanding!

Best,
Anshul Saini

[antonio_0667]

They same thing is happening to me, even though I didnt give any permission to Adobe to record my screen. This is an illigal invasion of privacy. If this issue dosent stop I think the best for all users will be to take legal action.

[Monika Gause]

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@antonio_0667  schrieb:

They same thing is happening to me, even though I didnt give any permission to Adobe to record my screen. This is an illigal invasion of privacy. If this issue dosent stop I think the best for all users will be to take legal action.

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Apple is lying to you. The message just means that Illustrator has the permission , not that it is actively recording the screen. Just turn off the permission in the system settings.

[Angie T_Sandoval M0366]

Me pasa igual, estoy trabajando (usando cualquier herramienta, no solo el cuentagotas) y me sale que está grabando, tengo los permisos desactivados, así que quisiera saber que graba y que tanto... si graba solo la ventana del programa o toda mi actividad

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi All,

I am able to replicate this behavior on my end, 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 (CGDisplayCreateImageForRect API to read pixels for colors). This allows our apps to capture a 1 px pixel’s color within the app window itself or outside if permission is granted. Even if screen recording permissions are denied, our apps 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. It can be 1 pixel, and still, this notification will pop up. 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.

Moreover, we have raised an internal ticket with Apple regarding this. Also, this is being triggered by ArtOnPathBrush, EyeDropper, ColorPicker, and ScatterToolBrush plugins.

Let me know if you need further clarification!

Best,

Anshul

[silk-m]

There seems to be a slight misunderstanding.
Older versions of macOS were a little more lax about privacy infringement, so Adobe software and others were allowed to record the screen (including picking up colors from the screen) without explicit permission being given.
The newer macOS has become stricter about privacy and requires users to grant permission.
So, just because you didn't explicitly give permission in older versions of macOS didn't mean that things weren't allowed, but rather that everything was allowed.

In my case, I allow as many programs as possible, which will reduce the chances of problems.