Permissions

Three separate things depend on this one system permission:

• ⌥⌘L (Lock screen, keep working) and ⌘⌃A (toggle Always-on) — the global keyboard shortcuts, so they fire no matter which app is focused, not just while UnIdle's own window is. macOS treats "receive a keystroke while some other app is in front" as an Accessibility-gated capability, same as any other menu-bar utility offering a global shortcut (Raycast, Alfred, Rectangle, etc.).
• Mouse Motion (Settings → Power) — an optional second keep-awake method that nudges the cursor on a timer, for apps or screen locks that watch for literal input rather than trusting the OS's own busy signal. Moving the cursor programmatically is an Accessibility-gated action.
• Lock screen, keep working itself — UnIdle first tries a mechanism that needs no permission at all; on macOS versions where that path isn't available, it falls back to simulating the standard ⌃⌘Q lock shortcut, which does need Accessibility to post a synthetic keystroke.

Without it: the two global shortcuts only work while UnIdle's own popover has focus, Mouse Motion silently does nothing, and Lock-and-leave may not work at all depending on your macOS version. Grant it any time from Settings — UnIdle re-checks and turns everything back on immediately, no restart needed.

Powers: ⌥⌘L Lock-and-leave, ⌘⌃A toggle Always-on, Mouse Motion keep-awake

Powers the two alerts UnIdle can show: "an agent needs your permission" and "a task finished." Without hooks or this permission, UnIdle still knows an agent is running — it just can't tell you what it's doing.

Without it: both alert toggles in Settings still exist, but nothing ever actually shows on screen — UnIdle already flags this directly in Settings when it detects notifications aren't authorized.

Powers: permission-needed alerts, task-finished alerts

Only requested if you turn on "Push to my phone." The alert itself — title, message, the "needs permission"/"finished" text — always goes over the internet, through the public ntfy.sh relay (see the privacy policy); that part never touches your local network. Local Network is for something narrower: when an alert includes Approve/Deny buttons, tapping one sends your phone straight to your Mac's address on the same Wi-Fi, reaching a small local server UnIdle runs — no round trip through the internet for that tap.

Without it: push-to-phone notifications keep arriving exactly the same, since the alert itself never depended on this permission — only the Approve/Deny buttons stop working, since your phone can no longer reach your Mac to deliver the tap.

Powers: Approve/Deny buttons on push-to-phone alerts

Not a macOS "permission" in the System Settings sense — a one-time administrator authorization, requested only if you turn on "Prevent sleep on lid-close (battery)." It installs a narrowly-scoped sudoers entry so UnIdle can override lid-close sleep specifically while it's actively holding your Mac awake for a running agent. Asked once, at setup; never again after.

Without it: closing the lid on battery sleeps your Mac immediately, same as it always did — every other feature on this page works independently of this one.

Powers: Prevent sleep on lid-close (battery)