Permissions Setup

FloWords needs certain macOS permissions to work properly. This guide explains each permission and how to enable them.

Required Permission: Microphone

Microphone access is required for FloWords to capture your voice.

1. FloWords will prompt you for microphone access on first use
2. Click Allow in the system dialog
3. If you accidentally denied, follow the manual steps below

Manual Microphone Setup

macOS Sonoma+

1. Open System Settings
2. Go to Privacy & Security > Microphone
3. Find FloWords in the list
4. Toggle it ON

Older macOS

1. Open System Preferences
2. Go to Security & Privacy > Privacy tab
3. Select Microphone from the sidebar
4. Check the box next to FloWords

Caution

After enabling microphone access, you may need to restart FloWords for the change to take effect.

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Recommended: Accessibility

Accessibility permission enables:

• Global keyboard shortcuts (record from any app)
• Automatic text pasting
• Trigger key detection

1. Open System Settings
2. Go to Privacy & Security > Accessibility
3. Click the + button
4. Navigate to Applications > FloWords
5. Click Open
6. Toggle FloWords ON if not already enabled

Why Accessibility Matters

Without Accessibility permission:

• ❌ Global hotkeys won’t work
• ❌ Auto-paste is disabled
• ❌ You’ll need to manually copy/paste text

With Accessibility permission:

• ✅ Press your trigger key in any app
• ✅ Text automatically appears where your cursor is
• ✅ Full keyboard/mouse trigger support

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Optional: Screen Recording

Screen Recording permission enables screen context for AI enhancement - FloWords can see what’s on your screen to provide more relevant AI responses.

Tip

This permission is completely optional. FloWords works great without it.

1. Open System Settings
2. Go to Privacy & Security > Screen Recording
3. Click the + button
4. Add FloWords
5. Toggle it ON
6. Restart FloWords when prompted

When to Enable Screen Recording

Enable if you want:

• AI to understand context from your screen
• More relevant AI enhancements
• Better responses when dictating about on-screen content

Keep disabled if you:

• Prioritize maximum privacy
• Don’t use AI enhancement
• Work with sensitive on-screen information

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Troubleshooting Permissions

Permission Changes Not Taking Effect

1. Quit FloWords completely (right-click menu bar icon > Quit)
2. Wait 5 seconds
3. Relaunch FloWords

FloWords Not Appearing in Permission Lists

If FloWords doesn’t appear in the permission list:

1. Open FloWords and try to use the feature
2. This should trigger the permission prompt
3. If not, try removing and re-adding FloWords:
   • Toggle FloWords OFF
   • Click the - button to remove it
   • Click + to add it again

”FloWords would like to access…” Keeps Appearing

This can happen if permissions were partially granted:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security
2. Check all relevant sections (Microphone, Accessibility, Screen Recording)
3. Remove FloWords from each
4. Re-add FloWords to each
5. Restart your Mac

Terminal Commands (Advanced)

Reset all FloWords permissions:

tccutil reset Microphone com.AlchemyAI.FloWords
tccutil reset Accessibility com.AlchemyAI.FloWords
tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.AlchemyAI.FloWords

Then relaunch FloWords to re-request permissions.

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Privacy & Security Notes

• Microphone: FloWords only listens when you activate recording
• Accessibility: Used only for keyboard shortcuts and text insertion
• Screen Recording: Only captured when AI context is enabled

FloWords never:

• Records without your explicit action
• Sends audio to external servers (with local models)
• Accesses data outside the app’s intended functions

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Next Steps

Permissions configured? Continue to First Recording to start transcribing!