Permissions
What each macOS permission enables for Overshow and how to grant, revoke, or recover access.
Last updated: 26 September 2026
Local access
Overshow processes your captures locally. macOS controls access to your microphone, system audio, screen, and accessibility data. Setup requires Screen Recording and Accessibility for capture. Microphone is required only when optional meeting audio is enabled.
Microphone
Microphone access captures your side of a meeting for on-device speech-to-text. Turn Meeting audio off during setup to continue without this grant. You can change the choice later in Settings.
Grant or adjust
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone, then enable Overshow.
Revoke
Disable Overshow in the same pane. Microphone transcription stops until access is restored.
Screen Recording
macOS groups system audio and screen access under Screen Recording (shown as Screen & System Audio Recording on some versions). Overshow uses it to capture the other people you hear in a meeting and to read on-screen text from your active windows. No screenshots or video are stored: only the text and metadata extracted on-device.
Grant or adjust
Use the request action in Overshow first, then open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording if macOS requires manual approval. Enable Overshow in the list.
A full Overshow restart may be required before the grant takes effect. First-run setup presents the restart action and resumes at the same point.
Revoke
Disable Overshow in the same pane. System-audio capture stops, so meeting transcripts may contain only your microphone side, and the screen capture that uses this permission stops too. On-screen text that Overshow reads through the separate Accessibility grant continues.
Accessibility
Accessibility lets Overshow read on-screen text from your active windows and recognise meeting windows and call state so it can start and stop meeting capture automatically. Overshow does not use this permission to record keystrokes.
Grant or adjust
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then add or enable Overshow.
Revoke
Remove or disable Overshow. On-screen text capture and automatic meeting detection are reduced until access is restored. Manual meeting recording remains available where supported.
Calendar connection
Calendar is an optional connected source with its own permission. Connect Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 from Meetings → Setup to add scheduled titles, times, and attendees. Provider access is read-only and can be revoked later.
If access still does not work
- Confirm that Overshow is installed in Applications.
- Use the permission action inside Overshow so macOS registers the app.
- Confirm the toggle in the relevant Privacy & Security pane.
- Restart Overshow after changing Screen Recording access.
Overshow shows expanded Finder and install-location guidance when the app is running from Downloads, app translocation, or another unstable location.
If you want to repeat setup while keeping the current grants, choose Settings → App → Run onboarding again. To clear the app's macOS privacy decisions and start from fresh prompts, choose Settings → App → Reset macOS permissions and confirm the restart. Both paths preserve the existing per-pipeline capture pause preferences. The reset also keeps your account, encrypted local data, captured-app choices, and normal preferences. It covers the current Overshow bundle's Microphone, Screen & System Audio, Accessibility, Automation, and Full Disk Access decisions. Notification preferences remain under macOS System Settings.
Old or duplicate copies
A second copy of Overshow, such as one left in Downloads, a renamed Overshow 2.app or an older one in your home folder's Applications folder, can open instead of the one you set up, and then ask for access again or show it as missing. Keep Overshow.app in the main Applications folder, where the installer puts it, and remove the others. Troubleshooting has the steps under Old or duplicate copies.