Change Privacy preferences on Mac
Use the Privacy pane of Security and Privacy preferences to manage the information your Mac makes available to others across the internet or on a network.
To change these preferences on your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy , then click Privacy.
Note: If the lock at the bottom left of the pane is locked , click it to unlock the preference pane.
Option | Description |
---|---|
Location Services | Allow apps, system services and websites to gather and use information based on the current location of your Mac to provide a variety of location-based services. To see specific system services that use your location, click the Details button at the bottom of the list on the right. To allow the location of your Mac to be used by Siri Suggestions and Safari Suggestions, select Location-Based Suggestions. |
Contacts | Allow apps to access your contacts. The listed apps have requested access. |
Calendars | Allow apps to access your calendars. The listed apps have requested access. |
Reminders | Allow apps to access your reminders. The listed apps have requested access. |
Photos | Allow apps to access your photos. The listed apps have requested access. Note: If you have items that are stored outside the Photos Library, other apps may still have access to them. |
Camera | Allow apps to access the camera on your Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
Microphone | Allow apps to access the microphone on your Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
Speech Recognition | Allow apps to access speech recognition on your Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
Accessibility | Allow apps to run scripts and system commands to control your Mac. The listed apps have requested access. To add an app, click the Add button , select the app in the list, then click Open. |
Input Monitoring | Allow apps to monitor input from your keyboard, mouse or trackpad, even while you’re using other apps. The listed apps have requested access. To add an app, click the Add button , select the app in the list, then click Open. |
Full Disk Access | Allow apps to access all files on your computer, including data from other apps (for example, Mail, Messages, Safari and Home), data from Time Machine backups and certain administrative settings for all users on this Mac. The listed apps have requested access. To add an app, click the Add button , select the app in the list, then click Open. |
Files and Folders | Allow apps to access files and folders in different locations on this Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
Screen Recording | Allow apps to record the contents of your screen. The listed apps have requested access. To add an app click the Add button , select the app in the list, then click Open. |
Media & Apple Music | Allow apps to access Apple Music, your music and video activity, and your media library on this Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
HomeKit | Allow apps to access your home data on this Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
Bluetooth | Allow apps to use Bluetooth on this Mac. The listed apps have requested access. To add an app, click the Add button , select the app in the list, then click Open. |
Automation | Allow apps to access and control other apps on your Mac. The listed apps have requested access. |
Analytics & Improvements | Automatically send analytics information to Apple and app developers, which helps them serve customers better and improve the quality of their products.
See Share analytics information from your Mac with Apple and Change Siri preferences. |
Apple Advertising | You may sometimes receive ads in Apple News, Stocks and the Mac App Store that are targeted to your interests. To understand why a specific ad was shown to you, click the Ad button on the ad. You can disable Personal Ads to prevent Apple from using your information for ad targeting. This may not decrease the number of ads you receive, but the ads may be less relevant to you. You can disable Personalised Ads by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy, select Apple Advertising and De-select Personalised Ads. To review Apple’s Advertising and Privacy policy, click About Advertising and Privacy. |
For more information about privacy in macOS, see Guard your privacy.