To see which apps can control other apps, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation, where each app lists the apps it may control. Turn off any pairing you don't recognize or no longer use.
Last reviewed · 3 sources
Where to find it
System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation
Automation lets one app control another through Apple events, which is what AppleScript uses. The app can then tell Finder to move files, Safari to open a page or Mail to send a message. macOS asks the first time an app tries, and keeps your answer as a pair: this app may control that one.
Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
Each app is listed with the apps it may control underneath.
A launcher controlling Finder makes sense. A utility you barely use controlling Mail doesn't.
You can let an app control Finder but not Mail.
If something you rely on stops working, turn that pairing back on in the same list.
CoreLock's free Privacy report covers Screen Recording, Accessibility, Full Disk Access, Input Monitoring, camera and microphone. Accessibility, the broader way to control your Mac, is in that report; Automation pairings are listed in System Settings.
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Automation lets one app send commands to another through Apple events, and you approve each pair. Accessibility lets an app work any app's interface directly, clicking, reading and typing. Automation is narrower; both can be misused.
If an app may control Mail, it can tell Mail to write and send a message with AppleScript, and you may not see a compose window. Only allow that pairing for tools you set up yourself.
1Password, for one, asks for Automation so it can fill in Terminal or iTerm2, which means letting it control that terminal app. If you don't fill passwords in a terminal, you can leave it off.
The Privacy report and the scan are free, with no account, on macOS 13 or later.
Apple silicon build 2.0.7 · Intel Mac?
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Count the apps with Screen Recording, Accessibility, Full Disk Access, Microphone and Camera access in System Settings, and get a free 0–100 estimate in your browser.
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