Recent macOS versions require your permission for apps to provide remote control functionality (e.g. screen recording or mouse and keyboard control).
Without this permission, TeamViewer functionality may be restricted:
- You may only see the TeamViewer app and the desktop background, but not other apps.
- You may not be able to control the mouse and keyboard remotely.
- You may not be able to use file transfer.
?Note: TeamViewer is not able to grant this access by itself, nor can the access be granted remotely through a TeamViewer connection from another computer.
How to grant access to TeamViewer on your Mac
When starting TeamViewer on your Mac running for the first time, you may see the following dialog:
You can also open this dialog by clicking on Help --> Check system access.
In order to remote control a Mac, you will need to give permission for
- Screen Recording (1)
- Accessibility
In order to use file transfer, you will need to give permission for
- Full Disk Access
(1) Screen Recording permission is not needed on macOS 10.14 Mojave.
How to allow each access
To allow access, click the buttons in the dialog.
For example, to allow Accessibility, click the Request Access… button.
In the next dialog, click Open System Preferences.
This will take you to the Accessibility section of the Security & Privacy preferences:
You may need to click the padlock icon in the lower-left corner to make changes. You might be prompted to enter the credentials of an administrator account to continue.
Check the box next to TeamViewer to grant access:
?Note: If you are seeing the entry TeamViewer_Desktop in your list, make sure to check this box as well.
Go back to TeamViewer, and repeat the same process for the other permissions.
When you are done, you may click the padlock in the lower-left corner again to prevent further changes.
The next time you want to receive an incoming connection with TeamViewer, the person connecting to your Mac will be able to see and control your device.
The permission status can be reviewed under Help -> Check system access at any time.
?Note: If you are managing Macs in your organizations through an MDM system, you can use Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC) payloads to configure these permissions. Your users will still need to grant Screen Recording access themselves. Starting with macOS 11 Big Sur, you will need to use a ScreenCapture PPPC payload with AllowStandardUserToSetSystemService to allow non-admin users to grant this permission.