Do you know why OBS is still requesting 'screen recording permissions,' even when it's ticked inside 'Security & Privacy'? (pic included)

overground55

New Member
I recently tried downloading the Beta for OBS 28 for silicon mac, and that is where my problems started. It asked me to grant permissions for screen recording, although the box was already ticked! I tried ticking and unticking it multiple times, and it didn't change the prompt coming up. I also redownloaded 28, and the same issue occurred. I finally reverted to an older version of OBS, 27.2.4, and now the issue is still persisting! I restarted my computer multiple times, but can't get this straightened out. I rely heavily on OBS, so anyone who could help, I would be greatly appreciative.
 

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This is an issue which arises from having multiple OBS binaries – macOS gets them muddled. As below, try deleting the permissions altogether and then granting them to whichever version you want to use.

If I recall correctly, permissions applied to a signed OBS binary do not apply to other secondary copies of OBS. You will have to remove all OBS related permissions, and then reapply them to the copy that you actually want them to apply to.
 

overground55

New Member
This is an issue which arises from having multiple OBS binaries – macOS gets them muddled. As below, try deleting the permissions altogether and then granting them to whichever version you want to use.
Thanks for the feedback. I tried removing every instance of OBS, but it didn't change anything for me. Is there a file folder where all OBS information can be found on MacOS? I'm wondering if deleting all those secondary files, and then reinstalling OBS will fix things?
 
Sorry, just to clarify – do you mean deleted every instance of the binary, or every instance of an OBS permission?

To answer your question, some apps use a folder in the library (hold down option while clicking "go" in Finder's menu bar) to hold certain information, including OBS (logs, profile and scene info, plugin config and profiler data are all under /Library/Application Support/obs-studio), but I think it's the binary itself which macOS looks at for these permissions, not those config files.

Hopefully someone who has encountered stubbornness like you're experiencing can chime in; and maybe say I'm wrong about permissions applying only to binaries!
 
You will need to do this any time you switch between versions of OBS.
  • Make sure OBS is not running.
  • Open -> System Preferences - > Security & Privacy -> Privacy Tab.
  • Click on the lock to unlock access (entering credentials)
  • Select the Screen Recording from the list on the left
  • On the right side of the screen, find and select OBS click [ - ] to delete the item.
  • Click [ + ] to add the new version of the app. (mac os may show the wrong name of the app when multiple versions are on the mac.
  • When prompted to quit / start the app, click later.
  • Open OBS and you are good to go.
 

RytoEX

Forum Admin
Forum Moderator
Developer
If I recall correctly, permissions applied to a signed OBS binary do not apply to other secondary copies of OBS. You will have to remove all OBS related permissions, and then reapply them to the copy that you actually want them to apply to.

This is a bit mistaken, and I apologize for that.

Multiple binaries are not an issue as long as they are codesigned by the same developer. If you have granted one signed OBS binary permissions, and then you install a second OBS binary signed by the same developer as the first one (which should be the case if both were official, signed builds), then the permissions granted to the first binary should work on the second binary. The only time this could be an issue is if you switched from an x86_64 binary to an arm64 binary, though this is just an unconfirmed theory.

If you previously granted permissions to an unsigned OBS binary, such as a "nightly" build from our CI, and then tried to run the signed OBS 28 beta builds, then the permissions granted to the first binary will not be respected for the second binary because the signatures do not match. In this case, the best way to ensure that you are granting permissions to the signed binaries is to remove all existing permissions for any OBS binaries completely, then grant them to the signed binary, and make sure that you only open the signed binary after that.

Deleting old binaries does not, as far as I know, delete permissions. You must delete permissions associated with those old binaries to actually delete permissions.
 

kstebbs

New Member
@RytoEX -- I've deleted all of the permissions in the Application Support library folder, completely deleted the binary, re-installed the Mac silicon version of OBS (29.1.3) and then re-applied permissions for screen recording. After all of that, I'm still getting pop-up notifications that I need to give OBS permissions every time I open the app... and I can't see any browser/window/display options when trying to capture.

I'm thinking I'll try and install an older version of the app to see if it works. Thanks for any help!

I'm running M1 Max with MacOS 12.4 (Monterey)
 

kstebbs

New Member
Update: I have solved this problem by clicking the minus symbol in the Screen Recording tab, removing OBS, and then re-adding.
 
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