Grant permissions

Last updated 5 min read

evoglyph needs three macOS permissions to do its job: Accessibility, Microphone, and (on some Macs) Input Monitoring. None of them open a path to the network. Here's what each one is for and how to grant it.

What you'll do

Privacy: these permissions don't leak data

evoglyph is local-only by design. Granting these permissions does not enable any data egress. Audio captured from your microphone is transcribed on your Mac, by models that live on your disk, and the result is injected into the focused app. None of it crosses the network. There is no telemetry on what you say, what you transcribe, or where it ends up. See the privacy policy for the full statement.

macOS's permission prompts are blunt instruments — they tell you evoglyph can see your microphone or simulate keystrokes, but not what it actually does with that access. The short version: evoglyph uses each permission for one specific job, listed below.

Accessibility

Why evoglyph needs it. Two reasons. First, evoglyph listens for your configured global hotkey through a system-wide event tap, which requires Accessibility on most Mac configurations. Second, evoglyph injects transcribed text into whatever app you're focused on — Mail, Slack, Obsidian, your terminal — by either reading and writing text through the Accessibility API or by simulating keystrokes. Both paths route through Accessibility.

How to grant it.

  1. Open System Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & SecurityAccessibility.
  3. Find evoglyph in the list and toggle the switch on. If evoglyph isn't in the list yet, click the + button and add /Applications/evoglyph.app.
System Settings, Privacy and Security, Accessibility pane with the evoglyph toggle switched on.
Toggle evoglyph on under Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

If you deny it. The hotkey won't fire and text injection won't work. evoglyph's menu bar icon will show a permissions warning. Re-grant by following the steps above.

Microphone

Why evoglyph needs it. To capture audio while you hold the hotkey. evoglyph only opens the microphone during a dictation session — when you release the hotkey, the audio stream stops immediately. The captured samples are passed straight to the on-device transcription model and discarded after the result is injected.

How to grant it. The first time you press the hotkey, macOS will pop up the standard microphone-access prompt. Click Allow.

macOS microphone permission prompt asking whether evoglyph can access the microphone.
The first-run microphone prompt. Click Allow.

If you missed the prompt or clicked Don't Allow:

  1. Open System Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & SecurityMicrophone.
  3. Toggle evoglyph on.

If you deny it. evoglyph will show an empty transcription every time you press the hotkey. Re-grant via System Settings as above and try again.

Input Monitoring

Why evoglyph needs it (sometimes). On most Macs, Accessibility is enough to register a global hotkey. On some configurations — particularly when the hotkey uses a function key or a key combination that overlaps a system shortcut — macOS additionally requires Input Monitoring to deliver key events to a third-party app. If evoglyph asks for Input Monitoring, that's why.

evoglyph's CGEvent tap callback only inspects keycodes and modifier flags to identify your configured hotkey. It never reads or logs other keystrokes. The callback returns immediately for non-hotkey events, so your typing is not recorded or relayed anywhere.

How to grant it.

  1. Open System Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & SecurityInput Monitoring.
  3. Toggle evoglyph on. If evoglyph isn't listed, click + and add /Applications/evoglyph.app.
System Settings, Privacy and Security, Input Monitoring pane with the evoglyph toggle switched on.
Input Monitoring is required on some configurations for hotkey delivery.

If you deny it. Pressing the hotkey will do nothing. Re-grant via System Settings, then quit and relaunch evoglyph.

If something goes wrong

I clicked Deny by mistake

macOS remembers your answer until you change it. Walk through the relevant section above (System Settings → Privacy & Security → the right pane) and toggle evoglyph on. If the toggle is greyed out, click the lock at the bottom-left of the System Settings window and authenticate.

evoglyph isn't appearing in the Privacy & Security list

macOS's permission registry sometimes lags after a fresh install. Try this sequence:

  1. Quit evoglyph (menu bar icon → Quit, or Cmd+Q from the dashboard).
  2. Launch evoglyph once and press the hotkey to trigger a permission request.
  3. If still missing, open the relevant Privacy & Security pane, click +, and add /Applications/evoglyph.app manually.
  4. Quit and relaunch evoglyph after granting.

I granted everything but evoglyph still says permissions missing

Quit evoglyph completely (Cmd+Q, then verify it's not running in Activity Monitor) and relaunch. Some macOS releases require an app restart to pick up newly-granted permissions, especially Accessibility. If the warning persists, toggle the relevant permission off and back on, then quit and relaunch.

I want to revoke evoglyph's permissions later

Same path: System Settings → Privacy & Security → the relevant pane, then toggle evoglyph off. The app will continue to run but won't capture audio, register the hotkey, or inject text until you toggle it back on.

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