Why is Illustrator asking to record screen and audio?

[Niet beschikbaar]

Why is Adobe Illustrator (28.0) asking to record my screen and audio? This makes no sense to me.

Obviously I declined.

[Monika Gause]

Then you won't be bale to pick up colors from placed images.

[Niet beschikbaar]

That seems illogical, and a pointlessly indirect and unreliable way to sample a colour in a design application document. Surely the application can access coordinates like it does with all the other routines and sample a colour directly. It can all be done in the file, in the application, without any sidesteps through the operating system.
This way the application would be able to obtain correct colour values of whatever the source is, and return real colour values in stead of unreliable RGB values that may have been contaminated by external factors.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Niet beschikbaar,

I understand your concern. The screen recording permission request in Adobe Illustrator (28.0) is related to the Eyedropper tool. When picking a color from a placed image, Illustrator uses this permission to access the screen and capture the color accurately.

While it might seem indirect, this method ensures that the application can accurately sample colors from the displayed content on your screen. By recording the screen, Illustrator can obtain precise color values without being influenced by external factors.

If you have any more questions or if there's anything else I can help you with, feel free to let me know.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[Niet beschikbaar]

Thank you for your response. Why do it this way? Sampling a Pantone spot colour or a colour in a CMYK based document would return a RGB value, which is useless in a non-screen workflow.

Also,  the Illustraor eyedropper tool functions normally here. It samples colour from placed image, despite the fact I have denied access to my screen and system audio. The tool works just fine in InDesign too, which has never asked for same permission. 

[Jerome39056680ndhv]

That begs the obvious question; What does color selection have to do with audio? 

[Mathilde295993180s0k]

Anshul. Asuming you are a real person. Why would you defend Adobe when you know this is simply not ethical. 
You never replied Niet about the audio recording. 

[Monika Gause]

You can still pick up appearances with it.

The screen recording is only necessary for picking up color from placed images.

[Niet beschikbaar]

Thank you for your response. On muy system, the eyedropper tool (in AI and ID) picks up colour normally without any screen recording permissions active. 

[Monika Gause]

From placed/linked pixel images?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Could you please post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Application Bar, …) visible to illustrate? 

[thesisman]

My macbook keeps asking me for permission even though I already enabled it. Anybody else having the same problem? It's irritating

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

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thesisman  schrieb:

My macbook keeps asking me for permission even though I already enabled it. Anybody else having the same problem? It's irritating

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It will happen even more frequently in the future, because MacOS is just freaking out with its paranoia: https://tidbits.com/2024/08/12/macos-15-sequoias-excessive-permissions-prompts-will-hurt-security/ 

[thesisman]

This is very helpful. Thank you~! Seems like there's no way around this one..

[Marius5E74]

I just witnessed Illustartor randomly recording screen (showing icon in top bar) without me even using the eyedropper tool or anything. This is very suspicious.

[Marius5E74]

So I revoked the permission, but eyedropper tool still works even on placed images. This is not adding up. Why are you recording my screen Adobe? 

[Monika Gause]

Nobody is recording your screen. Apple just did some terrible wording on that one, because they like it when people pop into this forum and ask about it. 

The only thing Apple doesn't like is when you ask them.

This forum is 95% not staff.

[Marius5E74]

Sure. I literally just saw the screen recording symbol randomly activating in the top bar saying that Illustrator is recording the screen without using the eydropper tool. Not sus at all.

[Marius5E74]

And as eyedropper tool still works after revoking permissions, it's totaly unnecessary. This stinks thh.

[Monika Gause]

The popup tells you that Illustrator has the privilege to record your screen. That's all. Apple worded it that way because they like to mess around with everyone.

[Mathilde295993180s0k]

ADOBE IS SPYING HIS PAID USERS. 
I just decline the request as well for obvious reasons.
The color picking is not an excuse but what about the audio? Illustrator doesn't work with audio. No reasonable explanation possible. 
If this does not get explained I'm done with Adobe. 

[Monika Gause]

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Mathilde295993180s0k  schrieb:

ADOBE IS SPYING HIS PAID USERS. 

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Nope. They are not. Apply is just paranoid and found the worst wording in the world. 

The popup just tells you that Illustrator has the permission to record. Not that they are doing it. Why is Apple doing that? Because they like it when people post in this forum. They only do not like when you are asking them.

This forum is 95% volunteers. Unless people are marked as staff, they do not work for Adobe. 

What you can do:

Turn off the permission in your system. The eyedropper functionality will then be limited.

Post to https://illustrator.uservoice.com 

[defaultwfh33hxujeyg]

Monika, you are wrong.
If permissions are disabled, we still get the alert that illustrator is recoding our screen. This alert appears regardless of the eyedropper being used or not. 

[Monika Gause]

@Anshul_Saini would you mind explaining what Illustrator is doing?

[AlanGilbertson]

It's 100% Apple, like Monika says, because it's only on Mac OS. They've been messing with professional designers for more than a decade in all kinds of ways. Think "Helvetica system font debacle," the insane workarounds it took to export PDFs when they changed their security settings without warning anyone, or the current Noto fonts nonsense. Windows users don't have to put up with any of that, including gratuitous and totally mis-named permissions.