How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina

Starting with macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple has introduced a new security feature that ensures third-party applications work safely with your data. In short, you need to manually grant permission to your apps, so they can work with files on...

Method 1 of 3:

Granting full disk permission

How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 1

Go to System Preferences. Click on the Apple icon at the top-left corner of your desktop, then click System Preferences
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 2

Open Security & Privacy section.
Switch to the Privacy tab. It's the last of four tabs in the row.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 3

Select 'Full Disk Access' from the list.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 4

Click on the 'Lock' icon to unlock changes. You'll need to enter your admin password at this point.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 5

Click on the checkbox next to the app to give it full disk access. If the app in question is not on the list, you can add it with the + button under the app list, or just drag & drop it from the Applications folder.
Click on the Lock icon in order to save changes.

Method 2 of 3:

Granting selected permissions

Choose, what permissions are required by the app. You can selectively grant access to the following data:
1. Apple Mail
2. Photos
3. Calendar
4. Contacts
5. Messages
6. Safari bookmarks
7. Documents folder
8. Screen recording
9. Desktop folder
10. iCloud Drive
11. Downloads folder
12. External hard drives
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 6

Go to System Preferences. Click on the Apple icon at the top-left corner of your desktop, then click System Preferences.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 7

Open Security & Privacy section.
Switch to Privacy tab. It's the last of four tabs in the row.
Click on the section you want to grant permission for.
Click on the 'Lock' icon to unlock changes. You'll need to enter your admin password at this point.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 8

Click on the checkbox next to the app to give it selected permissions. If the app in question is not on the list, you can add it with + button under the app list, or just drag & drop it from the Applications folder.
Click on the Lock icon to save changes.

Method 3 of 3:

Grant access to files in specific locations

Choose, which file locations you need to share. You can selectively grant access to folders in the following locations (apps may not ask for permissions in all locations):
1. Removable volumes;
2. Network volumes;
3. Downloads folder;
4. Documents folder;
5. Desktop folder.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 9

Go to System Preferences. Click on the Apple icon at the top-left corner of your desktop, then click System Preferences.
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 10

Open Security & Privacy section.
Switch to the Privacy tab. It's the last of four tabs in the row.
Click on Files and Folders in the list.
Click on the 'Lock' icon to unlock changes (you'll need to enter your admin password at this point).
How to Give System Permissions for Apps on MacOS Catalina Picture 11

Click on the checkbox next to the file location to grant permission. If the app in question is not on the list, you can add it with the + button under the app list, or just drag & drop it from the Applications folder.
Click on the Lock icon to save changes.

click icon folder app

Isabella Humphrey

Update 04 March 2020

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