"Your Mac is being Observed"

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"Your Mac is being Observed"

Anytime I try to unlock my Mac with my watch, it says that it can't because something is observing my screen and whenever I try to watch smth on a website that prevents redistributing (screen shots & screen recordings), it will black out and say something about no screen recordings. I checked my settings to see what is allowed to screen record and it was only Discord so I force quit it but this is still popping up. It has been like this for 3 weeks, what do I do? (I have a MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar if that helps)

Posted on Nov 4, 2025 3:00 PM

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Answer 1

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Servant of Cats

Level 7

34,001 points

Nov 4, 2025 3:53 PM in response to xinljng

Are you, by any chance, using a "workaround" like DisplayLink (e.g., to connect more external displays than your hardware supports)? Those typically require you to grant Screen Recording permission, and when DRM-infested streaming services see that you have such displays, they may intentionally black out video.

DisplayLink Support – Troubleshooting macOS: macOS: Screen Recording permission

DisplayLink Support – Troubleshooting: macOS: Content protected video does not play on Mac while DisplayLink screens are connected

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