New Privacy Options

In this video, we’re going to look at the new updated privacy options we have in macOS Mojave. Let’s go to my Mac. Now the first time you open up an app, you may get an alert asking you to give access to a certain service. For example, the first time you open up the new voice memo apps in macOS Mojave, it’s going to ask you if it can have access to your location. Why is this? Because when you create a new voice memo using the Voice Memo app, it names it based on the location. The app Voice Memo needs to know the location of your computer. If you use a different contact app, it may ask you to have access to your contacts.

You use a different calendar app; it may ask you to have access to your calendars. This is all set up through your privacy preferences. With macOS Mojave, we have some new privacy options. To view what apps have access to your calendar, your contacts, your location, and other options, what we need to do is we need to go over to our System Preferences. Select it. Now what we need to do is we need to go to Security and Privacy. From here, we go and select Privacy. Over on the left, you’re going to see we have all of our different privacy options. Well, remember how I said Voice Memo would need access to your location? When I go and select Location Services, you’re going to see Voice Memos.

Now what I’m going to do is to unlock this, so I’m going to go and click on the lock here. I enter in my password. Now what I’m able to do is I’m able to deselect Voice Memos from my location. Now, if I deselect this, Voice Memos will not have access to my location. This is how our privacy options work. If I go over to Calendars, I can see all the apps that have access to my calendar. If I no longer want to have OmniFocus have access to my calendar, I deselect it. Now, this is nothing new in macOS Mojave. We always had these options for our location services, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, and Photos, but if we look, you’re going to see we have a new option here – Camera.

Now when an app needs access to your camera, it’s going to ask you. It’s going to say, “I need access to your camera. Are you okay with this?” Then, if you click Okay, it’ll be listed when you click on Camera. Now, I do not have any apps that have access to my camera, but I have apps with access to my microphone. This is also new in macOS Mojave. Now I can see all of the apps that have access to my microphone. In this case, it’s ScreenFlow, which is what I use for the screen recordings. I can see which apps have access to my camera, and then I can revoke them. I can see which apps have access to my microphone. Again, I can revoke them.

Also new in macOS Mojave is Full Disk Access. I click on this, and then I can see all the apps allowed to access my data and mail, messages, Safari, Home, or Time Machine. If I want to add an app for full disk access, I click on the plus, and then I can add the app. If I want to remove an app with full disk access, I would select the app and then click on the minus. We also have automation options. Again, new in macOS Mojave. These are going to be all the apps that are allowed to control other apps. I use Rescue Time. This monitors how much time I’m spending on the computer. What it needs to do is it needs access, or it needs to control System Events, the Finder, and Safari.

If I no longer want to give Rescue Time access to these options or these controls, I would deselect them. Another new option is Analytics. I click on Analytics, and then I can set if I want to share Mac analytics. When you share your Mac analytics, it shares it with Apple. I can also share crash data with developers. If I have an app that crashes, what I can do is I can share that with the developer, so then they can improve it. Then we can also share our iCloud analytics. Then our last option is Advertising. I can set if I want to limit ad tracking.

Those are the new updated privacy options we have with macOS Mojave.