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Granting permissions to the Coffee desktop app (macOS)

What happens with your first Coffee recording on macOS and why you should click Allow when the system prompt appears.

Updated over 3 weeks ago

To use the Coffee desktop recorder on macOS, you need to allow a few system permissions. This article explains what to allow, when prompts appear, and how to fix missing permissions.

Permissions required (macOS only)

To record meetings correctly, Coffee needs:

  1. Screen & System Audio Recording

  2. Accessibility

  3. Microphone

What happens when you first open Coffee

The first time you launch the Coffee desktop app, macOS will show permission prompts.

  • Click Allow on each prompt

  • macOS may open System Settings → Privacy & Security

  • Follow the on-screen steps to enable access

grant access to Coffee on Mac

What happens during your first recording (important)

The first time you click Record, macOS will show an additional system prompt. When the prompt appears, click Allow

⚠️ If you don’t click Allow, Coffee won’t be able to record your screen or system audio.
​

This prompt only appears once, during your first recording.

ℹ️ If you clicked Don’t Allow or closed a prompt, you can fix it anytime.
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On the Coffee desktop app home screen, you’ll see 2 buttons:

  • Enable Screen Recording

  • Enable Accessibility

Clicking these buttons takes you directly to the correct macOS settings.


⚠️ Note: Allowing Screen & System Audio Recording will require a Coffee app restart.

Manually grant permissions from macOS settings

You can enable permissions manually at any time.

Step-by-step

  1. Open System Settings

  2. Click Privacy & Security

  3. Enable permissions in the sections below:

Screen & System Audio Recording

  1. Go to Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording

  2. Turn Coffee ON

  3. Restart the Coffee app if prompted

Microphone

  1. Go to Privacy & Security → Microphone

  2. Turn Coffee ON

Accessibility

  1. Go to Privacy & Security → Accessibility

  2. Turn Coffee ON

If Coffee doesn’t appear in the list

Sometimes Coffee won’t show automatically.

To add it manually:

  1. In the permission screen, click the ➕ (plus) button

  2. Open your Applications folder

  3. Select Coffee

  4. Click Open

  5. Enable the toggle

After enabling all permissions

Once all permissions are enabled:

  • Restart Coffee if prompted

  • Open Coffee again

  • Your meetings should now be detected and recorded correctly

Need help? Contact us at [email protected].

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