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Permissions

On macOS, Echophrase asks for one or two system permissions. This page explains exactly what each one is for, why the system wording sounds broader than what Echophrase actually does, and how to grant, revoke, or change your mind about them at any time.

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The short version

• Microphone is required - Echophrase can’t transcribe your voice without it.
• Accessibility is optional - it’s only used to press Cmd+V so your transcript lands at your cursor automatically. If you’d rather not grant it, Echophrase falls back to copying transcripts to your clipboard instead, and you can change that choice later at any time.

macOS labels the Accessibility permission “control your computer,” which sounds like it grants very broad access. In practice, Echophrase only ever uses the single narrow capability inside that permission that lets an app send a keystroke - and it uses that capability for exactly one thing: pasting your transcript where your cursor is.

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Microphone permission

Echophrase needs to hear you to transcribe you. This uses the standard macOS AVCaptureDevice.requestAccess(for: .audio) API - the same permission every voice or video app on your Mac requests. Audio is processed entirely on your device and is never uploaded anywhere. Without Microphone access, Echophrase cannot record at all.

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Accessibility permission (optional)

Accessibility is what lets Echophrase paste your transcript automatically at your cursor, by simulating a Cmd+V keystroke after transcription finishes. If you decline it, nothing breaks - Echophrase switches to a clipboard-only mode: your transcript is copied to the clipboard instead, and you paste it yourself with Cmd+V whenever you’re ready. You can change this choice later at any time in Settings → Output, in either direction.

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Why Echophrase only needs a narrow slice of it

The macOS Accessibility permission bundles together a few different capabilities, and the system prompt (“Echophrase would like to control this computer”) describes the permission as a whole, not the specific thing an app actually does with it. Echophrase deliberately calls the narrowest API available for its use case:

• It uses CGPreflightPostEventAccess / CGRequestPostEventAccess - the API scoped specifically to sending synthetic input events.
• It does not use AXIsProcessTrusted, the broader API that also unlocks reading and driving other apps’ UI element trees.

That means Echophrase can send a paste keystroke, and nothing more - it cannot inspect what’s on your screen, read another app’s window contents, or control anything besides sending that one keystroke.

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The clipboard fallback

If you choose “Copy to clipboard, instead” when Echophrase asks for Accessibility access (or you simply never grant it), Echophrase does not nag you or repeatedly re-prompt. Every transcript is copied to your clipboard, ready to paste with Cmd+V wherever you need it. This is a preference, not a one-time decision - you can switch between auto-paste and clipboard-only mode any time in Settings → Output.

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Granting or revoking permissions

You can manage both permissions directly from macOS System Settings. Echophrase’s own prompts link straight to the right pane using these deep links:

• Microphone: x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.security?Privacy_Microphone
• Accessibility: x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.security?Privacy_Accessibility

To do it manually:

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What Echophrase never does

To be explicit about the boundaries:

• Echophrase never reads your screen contents.
• Echophrase never reads or logs your keystrokes.
• Echophrase never needs or requests Input Monitoring.
• Global hotkeys (for starting/stopping dictation) need no permission at all - they’re registered with Carbon’s RegisterEventHotKey through tauri-plugin-global-shortcut.
• The dictation/F5 key remap is handled at the HID layer via hidutil, which is also permission-free.

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The three macOS permission services, plainly explained

macOS’s underlying permission system (TCC) actually tracks several distinct capabilities under names most people never see. Here’s what they mean and which one Echophrase actually uses: Input Monitoring is the one apps like Discord request for push-to-talk with modifier-only keys (like holding Right Option) - Echophrase’s hotkeys don’t need that approach, so it never asks for that permission at all.