Is there a way to distinguish physical mouse/keyboard input from remote control mouse/keyboard input on Mac? Or even better, is there a way to detect if my Mac is being remotely controlled?

I have an SCStreamDelegate for capturing frames from applications. On recent point releases of macOS Sonoma, I've noticed that the stream is being cancelled with no user action being taken. I started trying to debug it and when my on error method is called, the error parameter being passed is null: func stream(_ stream: SCStream, didStopWithError error: Error) { /*debugger shows this and segfaults if I try to print "\(error)" error (Error) > error = (Builtin.RawPointer) 0x0 */ From what I can tell, error should be a valid NSError so I can check the error code, based on similar code I've seen in, for example OBS (https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/blob/265239d4174f8d291b0de437088c5b78f8e27687/plugins/mac-capture/mac-sck-common.m#L29) Usually when this happens, the menubar icon for screen sharing (where I would click to change sharing window, etc) stays there even after my app has closed an no apps are doing sharing stuff. Has anyone come across this before? Am I misinterpreting what the debugger is saying about the error parameter? I'm running macos 14.7.3, but I just updated from 14.7.2 earlier and had basically the same issue on both macos versions

Hi all, with my app ScreenFloat, you can record your screen, along with system- and microphone audio. Those two audio feeds are recorded into separate audio tracks in order to individually remove or edit them later on. Now, these recordings you create with ScreenFloat can be drag-and-dropped to other apps instantly. So far, so good, but some apps, like Slack, or VLC, or even websites like YouTube, do not play back multiple audio tracks, just one. So what I'm trying to do is, on dragging the video recording file out of ScreenFloat, instantly baking together the two individual audio tracks into one, and offering that new file as the drag and drop file, so that all audio is played in the target app. But it's slow. I mean, it's actually quite fast, but for drag and drop, it's slow. My approach is this: "Bake together" the two audio tracks into a one-track m4a audio file using AVMutableAudioMix and AVAssetExportSession Take the video track, add the new audio file as an audio track to it, and render that out using AVAssetExportSession For a quick benchmark, a 3'40'' movie, step 1 takes ~1.7 seconds, and step two adds another ~1.5 seconds, so we're at ~3.2 seconds. That's an eternity for a drag and drop, where the user might cancel if there's no immediate feedback. I could also do it in one step, but then I couldn't use the AV*Passthrough preset, and that makes it take around 32 seconds then, because I assume it touches the video data (which is unnecessary in this case, so I think the two-step approach here is the fastest). So, my question is, is there a faster way? The best idea I can come up with right now is, when initially recording the screen with system- and microphone audio as separate tracks, to also record both of them into a third, muted, "hidden" track I could use later on, basically eliminating the need for step one and just ripping the two single audio tracks out of the movie and only have the video and the "hidden" track (then unmuted), but I'd still have a ~1.5 second delay there. Also, there's the processing and data overhead (basically doubling the movie's audio data). All this would be great for an export operation (where one expects it to take a little time), but for a drag-and-drop operation, it's not ideal. I've discarded the idea of doing a promise file drag, because many apps do not accept those, and I want to keep wide compatibility with all sorts of apps. I'd appreciate any ideas or pointers. Thank you kindly, Matthias

Hi, On macOS Sonoma and earlier versions, I used my script along with a LaunchDaemon to continuously record my screen. However, after upgrading to macOS Sequoia, the LaunchDaemon no longer works for screen recording. It only works when I use a LaunchAgent. For my workflow, using a LaunchDaemon and running the ffmpeg process as root is much more efficient than running it as a regular user. Does anyone know how to run a script in the background using a LaunchDaemon on macOS Sequoia? Here are my LaunchDaemon plist and script: LaunchDaemon plist: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Label</key> <string>local.ScreenRecord</string> <key>Disabled</key> <false/> <key>RunAtLoad</key> <true/> <key>KeepAlive</key> <true/> <key>Nice</key> <integer>-20</integer> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/bin/bash</string> <string>/usr/local/distrib/record.bash</string> </array> </dict> </plist> Script ## !!! START CONFIGURATION !!! # FFMPEG_LOC="/usr/local/distrib/ffmpeg" FFMPEG_INPUT="-hide_banner -f avfoundation -capture_cursor 1 -pixel_format uyvy422" FFMPEG_VSET="-codec libx264 -r 22 -crf 26 -preset veryfast -b:v 5M -maxrate 7M -bufsize 14M" TIME_REC="-t 600" FOLDER_REC="/usr/local/distrib/REC/" # ## !!! END CONFIGURATION !!! # # Find number id monitor MON_ID=$($FFMPEG_LOC -hide_banner -f avfoundation -list_devices true -i "" 2>&1 | awk -F'[]|[]' '/Capture\ screen/ {print $4}') # if [ -n "$MON_ID" ] then # Time for name DATE_REC=$(date +"%m-%d-%Y_%H-%M-%S") # Number of output video file OUTPUT_NUM=0 # Full command to record FFMPEG_FULL_COMMAND="" for MON_NUM in $MON_ID do FFMPEG_FULL_COMMAND=""$FFMPEG_FULL_COMMAND" "$FFMPEG_INPUT" -i "$MON_NUM" "$FFMPEG_VSET" "$TIME_REC" -map "$OUTPUT_NUM" "$FOLDER_REC""$DATE_REC"_Mon"$MON_NUM".mkv" let OUTPUT_NUM=$OUTPUT_NUM+1 done $FFMPEG_LOC $FFMPEG_FULL_COMMAND else echo "No monitors" sleep 5 fi

We are having issues with ScreenCaptureKit. Our use case is the following: We have multiple applications that each starts a stream capture, using ScreenCaptureKit. It works fine when just one application is streaming, but when starting multiple streams continuesly, all streams stops or crashes, without ScreenCaptureKit reporting an error back. Restarting replayd for the user will allow us to start streaming again, if the streaming applications are restartet too. We have build a small test program that we have tested on different Macs, running different versions of macOS, with identical results. The test program just calls the 'getShareableContentExcludingDesktopWindows' function multiple times, since this was the simplest way to show the problem. Our test setup is the following: Mac Mini M2 macOS 13.6 MacBook Pro M3 macOS 14.4 MacBook Pro M3 macOS 15.1 Code main.m #import <Foundation/Foundation.h> #import <ScreenCaptureKit/ScreenCaptureKit.h> @interface Runner : NSObject @property(atomic, assign) BOOL keepRunning; @property(atomic, retain) SCShareableContent* availableWindows; -(void) updateAvailableWindows; -(void) notif:(NSNotification*) aNotif; @end int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) { @autoreleasepool { NSRunLoop* loo = [NSRunLoop mainRunLoop]; Runner* r = [[Runner alloc] init]; [r updateAvailableWindows]; while (r.keepRunning) [loo runUntilDate:[NSDate distantFuture]]; NSLog(@"Program exit"); } return 0; } @implementation Runner -(instancetype) init { self = [super init]; if(self){ _keepRunning = YES; [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(notif:) name:@"windowWasNotFound" object:nil]; [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(notif:) name:@"windowWasFound" object:nil]; } return self; } -(void) updateAvailableWindows { @autoreleasepool { NSLog(@"begin"); [SCShareableContent getShareableContentExcludingDesktopWindows:NO onScreenWindowsOnly:YES completionHandler:^(SCShareableContent* content, NSError* error){ NSLog(@"running"); if(!error){ self.availableWindows = content; for (__unused SCWindow* aWin in self.availableWindows.windows) { [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:0.01]; } [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"windowWasFound" object:self.availableWindows]; } else{ [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"windowWasNotFound" object:nil]; } }]; } } -(void) notif:(NSNotification*) aNotif { if(aNotif.object) [self performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(updateAvailableWindows) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:NO]; else{ NSLog(@"Not Found"); self.keepRunning = NO; } } @end How to replicate: Compile and run the program from multiple terminal windows (terminal must be granted screen recording permission) and notice that the output stops, when the replayd stops responding (our assumption). Restarting the application does nothing, before the replayd also is restarted. Running th application in Xcode gives the following error: [ERROR] -[RPDaemonProxy fetchShareableContentWithOption:windowID:currentProcess:withCompletionHandler:]_block_invoke:902 error: 4097 This error is not something we have been able to detect in our applications - and since the only workaround is restarting replayd and the applications, catching the error would help us.

I am trying to use ScreenCaptureKit to select this window automatically rather than having the user do it.

A few weeks ago I requested the subject entitlement. I'm still waiting for it to be added to our account. Who or how can I find out what going on with it. I have no correspondence from Apple yet saying it was denied and why. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/entitlements/com.apple.developer.persistent-content-capture?language=objc Thank you.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to Swift and MacOS development. So apologies, I don't even know what is the right thing to search for. I have an app which uses ScreenCaptureKit. I had a preview working which showed the different windows available, it initially required me to give my app permissions for screen and system audio recording which I did. However now whenever I rebuild the app it asks for permission again and fails - despite the permission already being given.

1.Open the DingTalk macOS application, start a meeting, and initiate screen sharing. 2.The DingTalk app calls the [SCShareableContent getShareableContentWithCompletionHandler:] API. 3.The API takes over 40+ seconds to return a response.

I tried running the latest CaptureSample, selected local/canonical HDR, add to screen output, then stop capture. It is supposed to save the file, but no file is added at all. It works for SDR, just not for HDR. How do I get HDR working?

Hi, I'm trying to modify the ScreenCaptureKit Sample code by implementing an actor for Metal rendering, but I'm experiencing issues with frame rendering sequence. My app workflow is: ScreenCapture -&gt; createFrame -&gt; setRenderData Metal draw callback -&gt; renderAsync (getData from renderData) I've added timestamps to verify frame ordering, I also using binarySearch to insert the frame with timestamp, and while the timestamps appear to be in sequence, the actual rendering output seems out of order. // ScreenCaptureKit sample func createFrame(for sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer) async { if let surface: IOSurface = getIOSurface(for: sampleBuffer) { await renderer.setRenderData(surface, timeStamp: sampleBuffer.presentationTimeStamp.seconds) } } class Renderer { ... func setRenderData(surface: IOSurface, timeStamp: Double) async { _ = await renderSemaphore.getSetBuffers( isGet: false, surface: surface, timeStamp: timeStamp ) } func draw(in view: MTKView) { Task { await renderAsync(view) } } func renderAsync(_ view: MTKView) async { guard await renderSemaphore.beginRender() else { return } guard let frame = await renderSemaphore.getSetBuffers( isGet: true, surface: nil, timeStamp: nil ) else { await renderSemaphore.endRender() return } guard let texture = await renderSemaphore.getRenderData( device: self.device, surface: frame.surface) else { await renderSemaphore.endRender() return } guard let commandBuffer = _commandQueue.makeCommandBuffer(), let renderPassDescriptor = await view.currentRenderPassDescriptor, let renderEncoder = commandBuffer.makeRenderCommandEncoder(descriptor: renderPassDescriptor) else { await renderSemaphore.endRender() return } // Shaders .. renderEncoder.endEncoding() commandBuffer.addCompletedHandler() { @Sendable (_ commandBuffer)-&gt; Swift.Void in updateFPS() } // commit frame in actor let success = await renderSemaphore.commitFrame( timeStamp: frame.timeStamp, commandBuffer: commandBuffer, drawable: view.currentDrawable! ) if !success { print("Frame dropped due to out-of-order timestamp") } await renderSemaphore.endRender() } } actor RenderSemaphore { private var frameBuffers: [FrameData] = [] private var lastReadTimeStamp: Double = 0.0 private var lastCommittedTimeStamp: Double = 0 private var activeTaskCount = 0 private var activeRenderCount = 0 private let maxTasks = 3 private var textureCache: CVMetalTextureCache? init() { } func initTextureCache(device: MTLDevice) { CVMetalTextureCacheCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, nil, device, nil, &amp;self.textureCache) } func beginRender() -&gt; Bool { guard activeRenderCount &lt; maxTasks else { return false } activeRenderCount += 1 return true } func endRender() { if activeRenderCount &gt; 0 { activeRenderCount -= 1 } } func setTextureLoaded(_ loaded: Bool) { isTextureLoaded = loaded } func getSetBuffers(isGet: Bool, surface: IOSurface?, timeStamp: Double?) -&gt; FrameData? { if isGet { if !frameBuffers.isEmpty { let frame = frameBuffers.removeFirst() if frame.timeStamp &gt; lastReadTimeStamp { lastReadTimeStamp = frame.timeStamp print(frame.timeStamp) return frame } } return nil } else { // Set let frameData = FrameData( surface: surface!, timeStamp: timeStamp! ) // insert to the right position let insertIndex = binarySearch(for: timeStamp!) frameBuffers.insert(frameData, at: insertIndex) return frameData } } private func binarySearch(for timeStamp: Double) -&gt; Int { var left = 0 var right = frameBuffers.count while left &lt; right { let mid = (left + right) / 2 if frameBuffers[mid].timeStamp &gt; timeStamp { right = mid } else { left = mid + 1 } } return left } // for setRenderDataNormalized func tryEnterTask() -&gt; Bool { guard activeTaskCount &lt; maxTasks else { return false } activeTaskCount += 1 return true } func exitTask() { activeTaskCount -= 1 } func commitFrame(timeStamp: Double, commandBuffer: MTLCommandBuffer, drawable: MTLDrawable) async -&gt; Bool { guard timeStamp &gt; lastCommittedTimeStamp else { print("Drop frame at commit: \(timeStamp) &lt;= \(lastCommittedTimeStamp)") return false } commandBuffer.present(drawable) commandBuffer.commit() lastCommittedTimeStamp = timeStamp return true } func getRenderData( device: MTLDevice, surface: IOSurface, depthData: [Float] ) -&gt; (MTLTexture, MTLBuffer)? { let _textureName = "RenderData" var px: Unmanaged&lt;CVPixelBuffer&gt;? let status = CVPixelBufferCreateWithIOSurface(kCFAllocatorDefault, surface, nil, &amp;px) guard status == kCVReturnSuccess, let screenImage = px?.takeRetainedValue() else { return nil } CVMetalTextureCacheFlush(textureCache!, 0) var texture: CVMetalTexture? = nil let width = CVPixelBufferGetWidthOfPlane(screenImage, 0) let height = CVPixelBufferGetHeightOfPlane(screenImage, 0) let result2 = CVMetalTextureCacheCreateTextureFromImage( kCFAllocatorDefault, self.textureCache!, screenImage, nil, MTLPixelFormat.bgra8Unorm, width, height, 0, &amp;texture) guard result2 == kCVReturnSuccess, let cvTexture = texture, let mtlTexture = CVMetalTextureGetTexture(cvTexture) else { return nil } mtlTexture.label = _textureName let depthBuffer = device.makeBuffer(bytes: depthData, length: depthData.count * MemoryLayout&lt;Float&gt;.stride)! return (mtlTexture, depthBuffer) } } Above's my code - could someone point out what might be wrong?

When I tried to launch my application from non-gui process (from launch daemon) NSworkspace openApplicationAtURL failed if I tried to run it when my device on the login screen. Everything is working if someone logged in, but on the login screen I have the error The application “TestApp” could not be launched because a miscellaneous error occurred. with code 256 NSWorkspace* workspace = [NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace]; NSWorkspaceOpenConfiguration* config = [NSWorkspaceOpenConfiguration configuration]; config.createsNewApplicationInstance = YES; config.activates = NO; config.promptsUserIfNeeded = NO; config.addsToRecentItems = NO; [workspace openApplicationAtURL: appURL configuration: config completionHandler:^(NSRunningApplication *app, NSError *error) { }]; Sometimes after the third try it works, sometimes not at all. I try to use "open" command, it works on MacOS Sequoia, but not working for operating systems below, I see this error The application cannot be opened for an unexpected reason, error=Error Domain=RBSRequestErrorDomain Code=5 "Launch failed." UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=Launch failed., NSUnderlyingError=0x600002998120 {Error Domain=OSLaunchdErrorDomain Code=125 "Domain does not support specified action" UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=Domain does not support specified action}}} All these problems occur only on the login screen. I'm developing screen share utility, so I need somehow to launch my application on the login screen. Could someone please help me understand what is recommended way to launch application on the login screen?

I understand that there are no delegate methods for this. But to determine a positive consent from user to Record Screen needs to be evaluated via block parameter. When user denies the permission by mistake, and, if user tries again, the alert is not showing up. How do I reset the permission and throw the below alert again?

I've made a simple command line app that requires Screen recording permission. When I ran it from Xcode, it prompts for a permission and once I allowed it from the settings, it runs well. #include &lt;stdio.h&gt; #include &lt;stdlib.h&gt; #include &lt;unistd.h&gt; #include &lt;CoreGraphics/CGDisplayStream.h&gt; int main() { printf("# Start #\n"); if (CGPreflightScreenCaptureAccess()) { printf("# Permitted.\n"); } else { printf("# Not permitted.\n"); if (CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() == false) { printf("# CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() returning false\n"); } } size_t output_width = 1280; size_t output_height = 720; dispatch_queue_t dq = dispatch_queue_create("com.domain.screengrabber", DISPATCH_QUEUE_SERIAL); CGError err; CGDisplayStreamRef sref = CGDisplayStreamCreateWithDispatchQueue( 1, output_width, output_height, 'BGRA', NULL, dq, ^( CGDisplayStreamFrameStatus status, uint64_t time, IOSurfaceRef frame, CGDisplayStreamUpdateRef ref ) { printf("Got frame: %llu, FrameStatus:%d \n", time, status); } ); err = CGDisplayStreamStart(sref); if (kCGErrorSuccess != err) { printf("Error: failed to start streaming the display. %d\n", err); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } while (true) { usleep(1e5); } CGDisplayStreamStop(sref); printf("\n\n"); return 0; } Now I want to execute this from terminal, so I went to the build folder and typed the app name. cd /Users/klee/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/ScreenStreamTest-ezddqbkzhndhakadslymnvpowtig/Build/Products/Debug ./ScreenStreamTest But I am getting following output without any prompt for permission. # Start # # Not permitted. # CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() returning false Error: failed to start streaming the display. 1001 Is there a something I need to consider for this type of command line app?

I've been using CGWindowListCreateImage which automatically creates an image with the size of the captured window. But SCScreenshotManager.captureImage(contentFilter:configuration:) always creates images with the width and height specified in the provided SCStreamConfiguration. I could be setting the size explicitly by reading SCWindow.frame or SCContentFilter.contentRect and multiplying the width and height by SCContentFilter.pointPixelScale , but it won't work if I want to keep the window shadow with SCStreamConfiguration.ignoreShadowsSingleWindow = false. Is there a way and what's the best way to take full-resolution screenshots of the correct size? import Cocoa import ScreenCaptureKit class ViewController: NSViewController { @IBOutlet weak var imageView: NSImageView! override func viewDidAppear() { imageView.imageScaling = .scaleProportionallyUpOrDown view.wantsLayer = true view.layer!.backgroundColor = .init(red: 1, green: 0, blue: 0, alpha: 1) Task { let windows = try await SCShareableContent.excludingDesktopWindows(false, onScreenWindowsOnly: true).windows let window = windows[0] let filter = SCContentFilter(desktopIndependentWindow: window) let configuration = SCStreamConfiguration() configuration.ignoreShadowsSingleWindow = false configuration.showsCursor = false configuration.width = Int(Float(filter.contentRect.width) * filter.pointPixelScale) configuration.height = Int(Float(filter.contentRect.height) * filter.pointPixelScale) print(filter.contentRect) let windowImage = try await SCScreenshotManager.captureImage(contentFilter: filter, configuration: configuration) imageView.image = NSImage(cgImage: windowImage, size: CGSize(width: windowImage.width, height: windowImage.height)) } } }

I had no luck to compile a sample code provided by apple with Xcode 16.0 beta 5. ScreenCaptureKit demo (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/screencapturekit/capturing_screen_content_in_macos) The part it is failling is, streamOutput.capturedFrameHandler = { continuation.yield($0) } And the error message is Sending '$0' risks causing data races Task-isolated '$0' is passed as a 'sending' parameter; Uses in callee may race with later task-isolated uses Please enlighten me why this is an issue and how to avoid? Thanks in advance!

The two ScreenCaptureKit WWDC22 sessions show how to capture with the new framework but the retina factor is hardcoded to 2 in SCStreamConfiguration. When using on a non-retina display, the screencapture is floating on the upper-left corner of the image buffer. There does not seem to be a simple way to retrieve the retina factor from the SCShareableContent data (when configuring the capture). When processing the streaming output, the SCStreamFrameInfo attachment is supposed to have a scaleFactor property but .scaleFactor does not return a value. I have found out that the attachement dictionary contains SCStreamUpdateFrameDisplayResolution. This entry gives me the retina factor but it is not an official SCStreamFrameInfo key. I list the keys to access it. What is the proper way with ScreenCapture to handle the retina factors ?

Guys, In my main application bundle, I have included a helper bundle in its Resources. When the helper requests Accessibility permission, the system modal window displays what the helper is requesting permission for. However, when the helper requests permission for Screen Recording, the system modal window displays that the main application bundle is requesting permission, which includes the helper. This issue seems to be specific to Ventura, as both requests are displayed on behalf of the helper in Monterey. I'm wondering if this is a known issue or limitation or if there is a way to make the permission request specifically from the helper.

I'm creating app that listening other app's sound. in this use case, screen data is not needed. but if I don't call SCStream#addStreamOutput(_, type: .screen, ...), console shows this error: [ERROR] _SCStream_RemoteVideoQueueOperationHandlerWithError:701 stream output NOT found. Dropping frame currently I'm setting SCStreamConfiguration#minimumFrameInterval to large value (e.g. 0.1fps) as workaround, but it would be good if i can completely disable screen capture for best performance. there is any way to disable screen capture and only captures apps audio?

I'm trying to use ScreenCaptureKit on a Mac Catalyst app, on macOS 12.5.1. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but it crashes as soon as I try to request SCShareableContent. It crashes on internal code, calling a method it can't find, which makes me think this is a bug in the framework rather than incorrect configuration. Any hints on how to work around this problem? The crash is: ** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[RPDaemonProxy fetchShareableContentWithOption:windowID:withCompletionHandler:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6000037d5dc0' terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException ScreenCaptureKit-Crash.txt