Okay, so, I’ve been using this app, AltTab, right? It’s supposed to give you that Windows-style Alt-Tab experience on your Mac. You know, where you can switch between individual windows instead of just the app itself, which is what Command-Tab does.
Everything was fine until I updated my M2 MacBook Air to macOS Sonoma. After that, I started noticing this weird purple icon popping up in my menu bar. I was like, “What the heck is that?” Turns out, it’s some kind of screen capturing notification related to AltTab.
So, I did some digging.
- I found out that this is a common thing for AltTab users on macOS.
- The app needs screen capturing permissions to show those little window previews when you Alt-Tab. That’s reasonable, I guess.
But here’s the kicker, sometimes this purple icon just wouldn’t go away! It would show up even when I wasn’t using Alt-Tab. I thought that maybe it is a bug, right?
It got even more annoying. Sometimes, AltTab would randomly ask for screen recording permissions again, even though I already gave it those permissions! It felt like the app was just messing with me.
I even tried going into safe mode. I tried clean booting my Mac to see if some other app was causing conflicts. Nothing worked!
And then, I tried to switch from a full-screen app like Slack to another one. Guess what? I’d immediately be bounced back to the first app! It kept happening over and over. It was driving me nuts!
Finally
I decided to try a workaround. Someone suggested running games (if you have the problem with games) in windowed or borderless window mode. I figured it might be worth a shot for other apps too. But I am still finding a way to solve it.
I just wanted to share my experience. Maybe someone else has gone through this too. I will try more ways. If anyone has a permanent fix, please let me know!
