AquaAppearanceHelper is recording the screen?

While watching a video on Google Chrome I noticed the little "notification" dot at the top right of my screen. I was to intrigued to see what recently occurred, and to my surprise I see that this "AquaAppearanceHelper" has / was recording the screen?!

I couldn't find much about AquaAppearanceHelper thing online. Is it an apple Software? And if so, why is it recording, or did I get a virus or something?


I'm on macOS Sequoia 15.1 (24B83).


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 2, 2024 9:37 AM

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Posted on Dec 1, 2024 6:56 AM

I've reported the same issue to Apple last night. They did some trouble shooting, reboot in safe mode, ran a disk utility, and came up with the same results. I started getting this message after logging off of the second account on this iMac. Along with the AquaApperanceHelper message, I also noticed that before I actually logged into my account there was a brief small blue/violet indicator dot (the same one that appears next to the control panel) in the right top corner next to clock icon. This disappears one you're logged it, but you still get the AquaApperanceHelper indicator light next to the control panel sliders along with the message. Eventually I was told by a senior support specialist that the AquaApperanceHelper message is a know issue with the latest update and they are working on it. I was also told that screen is not being recorded and there was nothing to worry about. I will update this ticket if and when I hear back from Apple or there is a new update that resolves it. They didn't address the issue with the blue/violet indicator dot the appears (not seen in this screen shot) in the position by the clock. I will report that if it continues to briefly appear.

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AquaAppearanceHelper is recording the screen?

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