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macOS permissions: what RainbowSay asks for and why
RainbowSay uses three macOS permissions. Listening and Speaking each need two of them — a capture permission plus Accessibility — and Subtitles needs only a capture permission. None of them lets the app see your screen: it captures audio only.
On macOS 27 and later, Apple calls the Accessibility pane Device Control and Data Access. The app names it the way your macOS does; this guide says Accessibility.
The short version
| Permission | Needed for | Without it |
|---|---|---|
| System Audio Recording Only | Listening, and Subtitles of what your Mac plays | The session can’t start — the app would only hear silence |
| Microphone | Speaking, and Subtitles of what you say | The session can’t start |
| Accessibility (Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27+) | Listening and Speaking: pausing your player automatically, and the global Space shortcut | Listening and Speaking can’t start; Subtitles doesn’t need it |
When you press Start while a permission the selected session needs is missing, the overlay asks for the missing ones one at a time instead of starting (“Step 1 of 2”: the capture permission, then Accessibility), each with an Allow… button. The same rows appear in Settings then App under System permissions. The app re-checks every few seconds, so a request disappears on its own once you have granted access.
System Audio Recording Only
This is how RainbowSay hears the video, podcast or call you are playing. macOS lists it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, in the section called System Audio Recording Only.
- It is audio only. RainbowSay never asks for screen recording and has no way to capture your screen.
- Your audio keeps playing normally. The app receives a copy; nothing is rerouted, and its own voice — the spoken translation — is excluded, so it never hears itself.
- A Listening session never asks for the microphone.
- Select Listening (or Subtitles) in the overlay and press Start. If access is missing, the overlay shows “System Audio Recording is off” instead of starting.
- Press Allow… and allow it in the macOS dialog.
- If you said no earlier, macOS won’t ask twice: the button becomes Open System Settings… instead. Turn RainbowSay on under System Audio Recording Only.
Until it is granted, pressing Start brings the request back instead of starting the session.
Microphone
Needed only when the microphone is the source: every Speaking session, and Subtitles when you choose Microphone instead of System. macOS lists it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
Grant it the same way: press Start Speaking, then Allow… under “Microphone access is off”. Until then pressing Start brings the request back, and the microphone picker can’t show input levels.
Accessibility
Accessibility — Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27 and later — is required for every Listening and Speaking session, and not used by Subtitles. It powers two things:
- Auto-pause — at the end of a sentence RainbowSay presses the Play/Pause media key for you, exactly like the key on your keyboard.
- The global spacebar — Space translates now or continues while you are in a Listening session, and works as push-to-talk in a Speaking session, even when another app has focus.
Until it is granted, Listening and Speaking can’t start: the overlay asks for it right after the capture permission. The overlay’s Continue and Hold to talk buttons keep working alongside the spacebar.
On current versions of macOS the automatic prompt often doesn’t list the app. Add it by hand once:
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility (Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27 and later).
- Press +, choose RainbowSay in your Applications folder, and confirm.
- Make sure its switch is on. If it was switched off while a session was running, the spacebar starts working again within a few seconds, no restart needed.
If something isn’t working
The session runs but nothing is ever translated. Without System Audio Recording access macOS hands the app pure silence instead of an error. Check that the switch under System Audio Recording Only is on. If you granted it while a session was already running, stop the session and start it again.
The banner says access is off, but I granted it. Look at the right list: System Audio Recording Only sits at the bottom of the Screen & System Audio Recording pane, below the screen-recording list. The app doesn’t need to be in the upper list.
The video doesn’t pause at the end of a sentence. That is Accessibility — check that its switch is still on. Also check that Auto-pause at sentence end is on in Settings then Session then Listening then Sentence detection.
The spacebar does nothing. Accessibility again, plus Spacebar control in the same settings group. The spacebar deliberately steps aside while you are typing in a text field, so typing in another window never pauses your video.
More fixes are in Troubleshooting.
What happens to the audio
While a session is running, the captured audio is streamed to the AI service that transcribes and translates it — that is how the product works. Your study history (sentences, translations, audio clips, chats) is saved on your Mac and not uploaded. The Privacy Policy has the details.