Skip to main content
Known Participant
January 16, 2024
Answered

Why is Illustrator asking to record screen and audio?

  • January 16, 2024
  • 5 replies
  • 12000 views

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

Obviously I declined.

Correct answer Monika Gause

@thesisman  schrieb:

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

 


 

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/ 

5 replies

Known Participant
May 15, 2025

I don't even get asked. I just see an active icon at the top of my screen when it's recording. I can't turn it off, and it's happening much more frequently now. Every few minutes, even when I'm not using the Eyedropper Tool and don't have a pixel-bassed image in my file. I am very much not a fan of this. How can this be disabled? I'm on a Mac Mini using OS 15.1.1 and Illustrator 2025.

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 15, 2025

Only Apple can disable that warning, because it seems to appear whenever an application is using a special bit of code (code that is part of the MacOS codebase). So here you will see some examples of it:

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

Known Participant
May 15, 2025

Remember a year or so ago when Adobe said that they would be taking screen shots from their users to train their AI, even if that design work is under non-disclosure limitation? Well this feels like a work-around for that.

Participant
March 5, 2025

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
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 5, 2025

@Mathilde295993180s0k  schrieb:

ADOBE IS SPYING HIS PAID USERS. 




 

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 

 

Participating Frequently
March 11, 2025

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. 

Participant
February 13, 2025

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.

Participant
February 13, 2025

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
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 13, 2025

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.

Participant
September 13, 2024

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

 

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
September 13, 2024

@thesisman  schrieb:

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

 


 

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/ 

Participant
September 16, 2024

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

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 16, 2024

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

 

Known Participant
January 16, 2024

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
Community Manager
Community Manager
January 17, 2024

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