Mac settings guides
Where the buried ones are, and why a few of them have no direct route at all.
Short, complete answers to the macOS settings questions that send people digging — where each setting is, why some of them are so hard to reach, and what to do when the obvious fix does not work.
- What Accessibility permission actually gives an app on MacWhat an app can do once you grant it, how to decide whether to, and why macOS gives you no way to grant only part of it.
- How to open the "Allow applications from" setting on MacWhere the Gatekeeper setting is, why macOS gives it no direct link, and the faster route when an app has just been blocked.
- How to open Audio MIDI Setup on Mac, and what it is forWhere Apple hides it, what the Audio Devices and MIDI Studio windows actually do, and the difference between an aggregate device and a multi-output device.
- How to give an app Full Disk Access on MacWhere the setting is, why there is no URL that links to it, what it covers that ordinary file access does not, and the relaunch step it always needs.
- How to stop apps opening at startup on MacLogin Items, the Allow in the Background list nobody understands, and why an app reappears after you remove it.
- macOS System Settings URLs — the complete listEvery x-apple.systempreferences: URL that works on current macOS, including the privacy section anchors, read off a running system rather than copied.
- How to fix Microphone and Camera permission on MacWhere both settings are, why an app is missing from the list, the relaunch step, and what to do when the permission is on and it still does not work.
- How to give an app Screen Recording permission on MacWhere the setting is, the relaunch step almost every guide leaves out, and what to do when the app is not in the list at all.
These exist because I write JumpDock, a small menu bar app that puts these settings one click away. The pages are useful without it.