Unlock Your Mac’s Accessibility for Assistive Gadgets in OS X Mavericks

Hey there! Today, I’m going to show you how to activate accessibility settings on your Mac running OS X Mavericks. It’s a quick and easy process, so let’s dive right in!

First things first, you need to enable access to the amazing world of assistive devices. These nifty gadgets can make your life a whole lot easier, whether you have a visual impairment or need some extra support when using your Mac. So let’s get started!

To begin, follow these simple steps:

1. Head over to the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen. Click on it, and a drop-down menu will appear.
2. Next, select “System Preferences” from the menu. A new window will pop up with various options.
3. Look for the “Accessibility” icon and click on it. This will open a whole world of accessibility options for your Mac.
4. In the left sidebar, you’ll see a list of different accessibility features.
5. Choose “Accessibility” from the sidebar options, then click on the checkbox labeled “Enable access for assistive devices”.
6. Once you’re done, simply close the window and you’re all set!

And that’s it! You’ve successfully enabled access for assistive devices on your Mac running OS X Mavericks.

From here, you can explore and experiment with different assistive gadgets that can enhance your experience with your Mac. Whether it’s voice recognition software, screen readers, or any other cool tool, you’ll have the freedom to customize your setup to best fit your needs.

So go ahead and unlock the world of accessibility on your Mac. The possibilities are endless, and with assistive devices, you can make your Mac truly your own.

Happy exploring!

When I upgraded to the OS X 10.9 Mavericks Developer Preview, I couldn’t wait to install one of my go-to everyday OS X apps: SizeUp. I’ve been using this handy little app for years to easily organize my windows on the screen using keyboard shortcuts. To make SizeUp work its magic, it utilizes OS X’s GUI scripting control features. However, there’s just one small hoop to jump through – you need to enable access for assistive devices in System Preferences every time you install SizeUp on a new computer.

In order to enable assistive devices on OS X Mountain Lion, there is a specific method that needs to be followed. Unfortunately, after installing the SizeUp app on Mavericks, we received a message about enabling assistive devices, which seemed inconvenient at first. However, we remained optimistic and decided to open System Preferences and navigate to the Accessibility Pane, where we had previously found the option. To our surprise, the old check box for assistive devices was no longer available and none of the new options seemed relevant. This was problematic because without granting SizeUp access to the fundamental control functions of OS X, the app became useless.

Hey there! I noticed that the function is nowhere to be found in the Accessibility preferences in Mavericks.

But don’t worry, I did a bit of digging and found out that Apple just decided to move it…to the Security Preference Pane. You can locate it by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility. It’s a little different from how it was in previous versions of OS X, where it was a one-size-fits-all checkbox. In Mavericks, you have the power to choose which specific apps can take control of the system to carry out their scripted functions. Pretty cool, right?

So, here’s what happened in our case: we tried running SizeUp first, but it wouldn’t work because control wasn’t enabled. Then, we discovered that it appeared in the new Accessibility list in System Preferences. To fix it, we had to click on the padlock icon at the lower left corner of the window to authenticate as an administrative user. After that, we checked the box next to SizeUp and voila, our favorite app was back up and running.

This change isn’t just applicable to window management apps like SizeUp. It also affects many other automation utilities and predefined AppleScripts. However, I think this change is a positive one because it now allows us to grant control only to specific apps. Still, it is another example of how longtime OS X users will need some time to get used to the new features in Apple’s latest operating system.

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30 thoughts on “How to Enable Access for Assistive Devices in OS X Mavericks”

Here are some of the thoughts and comments from users:

Falcon89 says: Thank you, this saved me so much stress.

Dmoney says: How do I add an app to my accessibility? I don’t have the plus/minus sign.

Pingback: Publishing a Titanium application to the Apple App Store – PCR’s notepad.

Alvin Agarrat says: Thanks a lot. This helped me install a Final Cut Pro X installer.

Sagar Rayaprolu says: Hey, I have a question. I ran the app and tried dragging it into the box as suggested, but it didn’t work. Any idea why? It’s a Pro Tools Loader for 10.3.9.

Dylan Briggs says: How do you enable devices instead of apps?

Hi, I need help with “enable access for assistive devices” to install a plugin on Lightroom.

Jeff McNeill says: Great, thanks! You are a lifesaver for enabling SecondBar in Mavericks. The only way to stop the “jumping dock” is to turn off “enable spaces” in Mission Control, but that also disables the menu bar. So, I had to figure out how to enable access for assistive devices, and you, sir, did the job!

Hamid Seleman says: Thanks! SizeUp is back in service!

Richard Glaser says: This Python script helps in adding items to the TCC.db sqlite database, which is useful in a distributed environment where a blanket TCC file wouldn’t work properly. Check out the following GitHub site for more details and the script.

Richard Glaser says: We have created a management utility to administrate OS X Location Services, Contacts requests, Accessibility, and iCloud access in enterprise environments. It runs on OS X 10.8 & 10.9 and has been tested with OS X 10.10 “Yosemite”. Since Mac OS X 10.8 “Mountain Lion”, Apple has introduced systems to handle access to certain features of the computer. Among these are Contacts (AddressBook), iCloud (Ubiquity), Accessibility, and Location Services. The first three are managed through one method (SQLite databases called TCC.db hidden throughout the system), while the latter is handled by the locationd daemon through property list files. Originally, I created two separate scripts to modify these systems manually. However, I eventually realized that while the internal workings were different, the desired effect was more or less the same. This Privacy Services Manager is a compilation (and mild reformation) of those two scripts. The script is fairly straightforward, though there are some options:

-h, -help: Prints help information.
-v, -version: Prints version information.
-n, -no-log: Redirects logging to stdio.
–template: Modify permissions for Apple’s User Template. Only applies to certain services.
-l log, -log-dest log: Redirect logging to the specified file. (This can be overridden by -no-log.)
-u user, -user user: Modify permissions for user, not yourself. (Requires root privileges.)
–language lang: When changing permissions for the User Template, modify the langtemplate.

We have two other GitHub repos that are deprecated and replaced by the more complete and actively developed and supported Privacy Services Manager. We also included a package installer/uninstaller for those using package distribution systems or to ease installation for the busy/less technical. If you have any questions, problems, or feature requests, feel free to email me off-list or send an email or file an issue via the GitHub repo.