The Mac shows no picture or cannot be controlled

What it is for

A Mac can only be seen and controlled once its owner gives BrowserDesk two permissions: Screen Recording (for the picture) and Accessibility (for mouse and keyboard). No program and no administration can give itself these permissions. If one is missing, it easily looks like a network problem from outside. Here is how to recognise it and how the person at the Mac fixes it.

What you need

• The person at the Mac — only they can grant the permissions.
• BrowserDesk on the Mac, started and with a user signed in. A Mac with an Apple chip can be controlled; a service that runs before sign-in does not exist on the Mac yet.

How to do it

1. Read the sentence you get. - "Auf diesem Mac ist „Bildschirmaufnahme“ für BrowserDesk nicht erteilt. …" (Screen Recording is not granted for BrowserDesk on this Mac) — the connection is refused; the permission for the picture is missing. Continue with step 2. - You see the picture, and "Auf diesem Mac ist „Bedienungshilfen“ für BrowserDesk nicht erteilt — Maus und Tastatur werden vom System verworfen. …" (Accessibility is not granted — the system discards mouse and keyboard) appears — the permission for control is missing. Continue with step 2. - "Auf dem Mac ist gerade ein Passwortfeld aktiv (Secure Input) …" (a password field is active on the Mac) — see step 4.
2. Open the card on the Mac. The person at the Mac opens BrowserDesk → Einstellungen › Fernzugriff (Settings > Remote access). The same card is also on the left under Fernzugriff. The card macOS-Berechtigungen (macOS permissions) shows both permissions as "erteilt" (granted) or "nicht erteilt" (not granted).
3. Grant the missing permission. In the row Bildschirmaufnahme (Screen Recording) or Bedienungshilfen (Accessibility): - Anfragen (Request) opens the macOS prompt. macOS shows it only once. - If the prompt came before, use Systemeinstellungen (System Settings): it opens the matching list under Privacy & Security. Switch BrowserDesk on there. - After granting Screen Recording, macOS may ask to restart BrowserDesk. Then restart it. - Afterwards the top right of the card says "vollständig" (complete).
4. Only the keyboard does not arrive? If a password field is active on the Mac, BrowserDesk reports "Secure Input" to you. The mouse keeps working. Click next to the field or into another window and try again. Locking the Mac during a running session and unlocking it remotely worked in testing.
5. macOS asks again? Newer macOS versions ask again from time to time whether BrowserDesk may access screen and sound directly — even when the permissions are already set. While this prompt is open, it can block BrowserDesk on the Mac. The person at the Mac confirms it.
6. Reconnect. Then set up the session again.

How you know it worked

• On the Mac the card macOS-Berechtigungen says "vollständig" (complete), both rows "erteilt" (granted).
• You see the Mac's picture, and clicks and keys arrive.

What the other side sees

The person at the Mac sees the macOS prompt or the list in System Settings. Nothing changes without their approval.

Good to know

• Both failures are silent. Without Screen Recording there would only be a black picture; without Accessibility macOS accepts mouse and keyboard and throws them away. That is why BrowserDesk checks both itself and tells you.
• A sleeping display is woken when you connect and kept awake during the session.
• Intel Macs cannot be controlled with BrowserDesk; there BrowserDesk only runs to connect to other devices.

If it does not work