To see which apps can record your screen, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording (called Screen Recording on macOS 13). Turn off any app you don't use for screen sharing, screenshots or recording; a switch that's on means permission, not that the app is recording now.
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Where to find it
System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording (called Screen Recording on macOS 13)
Screen Recording lets an app capture what's on your screen, including other apps' windows, documents and messages, not just its own window. Since the pane was renamed Screen & System Audio Recording, each app can be allowed to record the screen and audio, or only the audio. Password fields show dots, so what an app can see is what you can see.
Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
On macOS 13 Ventura it's called Screen Recording. The list shows the apps that have access, and for each one whether it can record the screen and audio or only audio.
Screen-sharing, screenshot, recording and some menu bar tools need this. Question any other app on the list.
In Screen & System Audio Recording, turn off the switch next to the app, or select it and remove it from the list.
macOS may offer Quit & Reopen. A running app can keep its access until it restarts.
With Full Disk Access, CoreLock's free Privacy report lists the apps macOS has granted Screen Recording and flags any still held by apps you've deleted. It shows what macOS granted, not what an app captured.
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Any app that needs to see other windows' contents asks for it, not only video recorders: screen sharing in meeting apps, screenshot tools, and some menu bar and window tools. Each one can see whatever is on screen while it runs, so keep the ones you use and turn off the rest.
It sees what's displayed. Password fields show dots, so a typed password isn't visible, but anything shown in plain text is: a password you reveal in a password manager, a code in a message, a document. That's why the list should only hold apps you trust.
Screen Recording lets an app see and capture what's on screen. Accessibility lets an app control your Mac: read other apps' interface, click buttons and type. Some apps, such as remote-support tools, ask for both.
The Privacy report and the scan are free, with no account, on macOS 13 or later.
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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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