"Your screen is being observed" message at lock screen, even with all sharing settings turned off and all connections (wifi, BT, everything) turned off

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"Your screen is being observed" message at lock screen, even with all sharing settings turned off and all connections (wifi, BT, everything) turned off

I think the title says it all.

I saw the message, and immediately went and checked the settings - everything under sharing was turned off as it always is on my computer. Spent the next 30min turning everything else off as well that probably wasn't related at all. Still seeing the message at lock screen.

Then went ahead and turned wifi and bt and airdrop and these guys off.. still seeing that message at lock screen..

Logging out and in made it go away, but it still feels weird.

Yesterday, the Mail app quit itself repeatedly like 10 times in 4 hours time.

What's happening?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.3

Posted on Oct 12, 2023 10:32 AM

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Answer 1

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MrHoffman

Level 10

146,155 points

Oct 12, 2023 10:45 AM in response to holo200

Some settings to check:

 > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording > What apps are shown? (disable as needed.)

 > System Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > if you see AirPlay Receiver shown here, disable it.

 > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility > What apps are shown? (disable as needed.)

Are any add-on security apps, or add-on cleaner apps installed? If so, remove all of those per the vendors' instructions, restart the Mac, and check again.

If that all fails to find a culprit, download EtreCheck, run it, and share the results to the clipboard. Then open a new reply here, and press the Additional Text button that looks like a printed page to get a text input box big enough to paste the hardware and software configuration report here, and paste and post that here.

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Answer 2

holo200 Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 12, 2023 11:01 AM in response to MrHoffman

From the settings you suggested to check, everything was turned off, except for a time-tracking tool that I use for work and it had access to screen recording. I know and trust that app, but still I took that power away from it, but still saw the same "being observed" message at lock screen.

The message only went away after I logged out of my user.

I doubt that the time-tracker tool had anything to do with the message as I have used it for at least a month already (and never seen the message before), and now after having turned it on again, I'm not seeing the "being observed" message again either.

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"Your screen is being observed" message at lock screen, even with all sharing settings turned off and all connections (wifi, BT, everything) turned off

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