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 UnIdle's alerts: a project "needs permission" (with the command), "has a question" (with the question), or "finished" (with Claude's own one-line summary). Without this permission, or if you disconnect UnIdle from Claude Code in Settings → General, UnIdle still knows an agent is running — it just can't tell you what it's doing.

Without it: the 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: needs-permission alerts, question 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 — macOS's standard "install a new helper tool" prompt, shown only if you set up "Prevent sleep on lid-close (battery)." The helper can do one thing: switch lid-close sleep off while an agent is working, and back on after. It only accepts requests from UnIdle, and turns sleep back on by itself if UnIdle quits. Asked once, at setup; never again after. "Restore all sleep settings" removes it, no password.

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)