Pop-up window for the device access stuck on M1 MacBook Pro

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penumbra_93 Author

Level 1

20 points

Pop-up window for the device access stuck on M1 MacBook Pro

I have encountered with this issue multiple times on my new MacBook Pro 13" with M1 chip:

When there's a pop-up like this for new device access:

“Final Cut Pro” would like to access files in your Desktop folder.
“WhatsApp” would like to access the camera.
“Logic Pro” would like to access the microphone.

Clicking “OK” or “Don’t Allow” won’t respond for a long time and the pop-up will stay on the screen.

The request for access to whatever, e.g. microphone, camera or folder, happens in the same way with other apps. The popup stays on the screen not responding to the choices, but after 1-2 min, it will respond when I go back to it and make a choice. So I think this is a bug in macOS Big Sur.

Posted on Jan 16, 2021 4:22 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

antoniobrandao

Level 1

9 points

Feb 27, 2021 4:42 PM in response to penumbra_93

Hey Penumbra. I had exactly the same issue. Every time there was a dialog requesting camera or microphone access, none of the buttons in the dialog would respond and the dialog would be stuck until restart.

I found out it was a 3rd party app that I had running causing the problem - specifically an app that highlights the mouse cursor - turning off the app allowed me to click the buttons in the access dialogs again. Many 3rd party apps need to be updated to be compatible with Bir Sur.

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Answer 2

Jan 19, 2021 8:19 AM in response to penumbra_93

Hey there penumbra_93,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities! We understand you're having issues with a notification causing your MacBook to not respond, and we'd be happy to help.

To get started, when the issue occurs does the entire device stop responding, or only the pop-up notification window? If only occurring in the notification window, let's give the steps listed in the following resource a try, and let us know if that helps: If an app freezes or quits unexpectedly on Mac

If still having issues after those steps, let's test to see if the issue occurs in safe mode. Safe mode can help to determine whether an issue is caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up. Check out this link for help with testing the issue in safe mode, and what to do if the issue doesn't persist in safe mode: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Keep us updated on the results.

Have a great day!

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Answer 3

penumbra_93 Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 20, 2021 11:19 AM in response to barberlives123

Hi!

Thank you for your answer.

Please assume that I'm not a low-level user, as I'm also a developer. The notification is only specific to the occasion when the system is requesting for device access, e.g. microphone, camera or folder. Force Quitting would not help with that problem, as the notification comes from the system, not the application itself.

In fact, I have tried to force quit the app (Final Cut Pro, WhatsApp, FaceTime, etc), but the pop-up will stay on the screen. The laptop otherwise functions as normal, nothing is frozen. I could just ignore that notification window and it will respond to me if I go back to it after a couple of minutes. I hope you understand what I mean. :)

The problem is hard to reproduce, coz I need to basically install another new app that would ask for device access for the first time, as once I authorise it, it won't need to ask again in the future. This phenomenon also means that even the pop-up window freezes for a strange amount of time, regardless whether the corresponding application is "force closed", as long as I click "Allow" when it could respond, it will assign the requested device, e.g. microphone, to the application in question.

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Answer 4

ManJor

Community Specialist

Jan 20, 2021 12:55 PM in response to penumbra_93

penumbra_93,

Thanks for providing those additional details.

Based on the information provided, if this issue does occur again, we'd recommend reaching out to Apple Support directly for additional assistance at this link here: Get Support - Apple

Please let us know if you have any other questions; we'd be happy to help

Take care.

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Answer 5

Netjera

Level 1

8 points

Mar 20, 2021 7:33 PM in response to penumbra_93

I'm having this same issue on my Mac mini 2018. I'm running the latest edition of Mac OS Big Sur 11.2.3 - updated today. A program wanted to access something, and the window wouldn't respond. It didn't matter whether or not I clicked "Allow" or "Deny", the window was completely stuck. There were no programs running, and nothing that I could identify in Activity Monitor, which would allow me to kill the process. I even tried restarting Finder. Which didn't work. I finally had to reboot the computer entirely, in order to get the annoying window to go away.

Maci mini (2018)

3.2. GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7

16GB 2667 MHz DDR4

macOS Big Sur 11.2.3

(Starts up from the Mac HD, although I do have an external SSD plugged into one of the USB ports.)

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Pop-up window for the device access stuck on M1 MacBook Pro

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