Permissions
Powerful permissions. Narrow purpose.
Overflow can't do what it does without two permissions macOS treats seriously. Here's exactly what each is used for, and what it isn't.
Accessibility
macOS exposes an accessibility tree for every running app — the same system VoiceOver and other assistive tools rely on. Overflow uses it to read the name and menu structure of a status item, and to send a click to whichever menu row you choose.
- Reads the label and menu contents of menu bar items you interact with.
- Sends the activation event for the row you click in Overflow's panel.
- Never reads content from other apps' windows or documents.
Screen Recording
There is no public macOS API for enumerating another app's menu bar icons or their on-screen position. Overflow uses the Screen Recording permission's window-list APIs to identify which status items are currently visible and where they sit, so it can tell you which ones the notch or overflow is hiding.
- Used to detect status item positions — not to capture your screen.
- No image, video, or frame of your screen is ever written to disk.
- No screen recordings are saved, transmitted, or cached, at any point.
Verifiable
No menu contents leave your Mac
Overflow makes no network calls. There's no telemetry, no crash reporter phoning home, no update check running in the background. You don't have to take our word for it — open Console.app or a tool like Little Snitch while Overflow runs and you'll see no outbound connections at all.