Allow "App" to find the devices on local network?

That's a security alert that gives the user the opportunity to confirm or deny access for your app to devices on their local network.

Bypassing that alert would be a massive no-no. (If an app could bypass it, what's the point in the alert...?)

You need to handle the situation where the user confirms access, and when they deny access. When they deny, you should give them reasons as to why it's required, and give them instructions on how to grant access.

That's a security alert that gives the user the opportunity to confirm or deny access for your app to devices on their local network.

Right. This feature has existing on iOS for a few years, and macOS 15 (currently in beta) brings it to macOS as well. I have a bunch of general backstory in the Local Network Privacy FAQ.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
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Hi,

Thank you for the quick response.

Regards

Prema Kumar

Why does the popup appears for the same app over and over again?

I'v been writing an app for macOS for years. I'm not aware my app cares about devices. It should not, it only cares about full disk access.

So how does the Mac figure out that my app needs access to Devices. I want to pre-fill this when I build the app so my customers do not freak out.

Why does the popup appears for the same app over and over again?

We recently published TN3179 Understanding local network privacy, which discusses some of the common causes for that issue. In short:

• Make sure your app has a stable code signing identity.

• Make sure your app has a main executable UUID.

So how does the Mac figure out that my app needs access to Devices.

Again, this is something I cover in TN3179. In short:

• The system presents the Local Network alert when your app performs a locale network operation.

• The technote has a full description of what constitutes a locale network operation.

• There’s no great way to work out which specific part of your code performed the local network operation and thus triggered the alert.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Perhaps I'm reading wrong, but it seems like the message is a bit misleading about why an application might need this permission (as opposed to what the permission might include).

Allow <app> to find devices on local networks?

suggests the app is requesting specifically local network access, which it seems likely it may not be in many/most cases. It may just be attempting to get internet access, but it seems (reading TN3179) that Mac OS cannot grant one without the other.

If the message said:

Allow <app> access to the network? This will allow the app to connect to the internet, but also to discover, connect to and collect data from devices on your networks.

that might be a little more clear?

For most Privacy & Security settings it's possible to manually set them using a configuration profile containing Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC). The options listed include things like SystemPolicyDocumentsFolder and SystemPolicyNetworkVolumes. Is there an PPPC option that would allow us to add Local Network?

I'm having a little trouble with the Local Network security. I have a launchd daemon that is not able to access the local network. Daemons are supposed to be given access automatically, but this one is not. The problem may be that it is spawning another process, and that process is not getting the exemption. If I run the daemon command in a Terminal window it works as expected, with access given automatically.