Privacy Settings to Check on a New M5 Mac

Do this while the Mac is still empty. Every app you install afterwards will ask for permissions, and those requests are much easier to judge when you already know what your baseline is. Set it now and each later prompt stands out as a real decision rather than one more dialog between you and getting on with your work.

Analytics and advertising

Two settings, both under System Settings → Privacy & Security, both off by default in most regions but worth confirming:

• Analytics & Improvements. Controls whether crash reports and usage data go to Apple, and separately to developers. Turning it off costs you nothing.
• Apple Advertising. Under Personalized Ads. Affects ads in the App Store and Apple News rather than the web at large.

The Terminal equivalent for crash reporting is covered in disabling the crash reporter, along with how to put it back.

Location Services

Privacy & Security → Location Services. Worth opening not to switch it off wholesale but to see the list. Weather and Maps genuinely need it. Setting the time zone automatically needs it. Most other things on that list do not, and the per-app switches are more useful than the master one.

Scroll to the bottom for System Services → Details, where the least obvious entries live — location-based suggestions and significant locations among them. Significant Locations in particular keeps a history of where the Mac has been, which surprises people.

The permissions that matter most

Further down Privacy & Security are the categories apps must request access to. Three deserve real attention because they are the ones that grant the most:

1. Screen & System Audio Recording. An app with this can see everything you display. Legitimate for call and capture tools, rarely needed by anything else.
2. Accessibility. The most powerful permission on macOS — it lets an app control other apps. Window managers and automation tools need it. Treat any other request with suspicion.
3. Full Disk Access. Exactly what it says, including files other permissions protect. Backup tools need it; most things do not.

On a new Mac all three lists should be nearly empty. That is the point of checking now: in six months you will not remember what you granted, but you will recognise something that does not belong.

FileVault and the firewall

Both under Privacy & Security. FileVault encrypts the disk and is on by default on recent Macs — confirm rather than assume, because without it a stolen Mac gives up its data to anyone who removes the drive. Keep the recovery key somewhere that is not the Mac.

The firewall is off by default and blocks unsolicited incoming connections when on. On a laptop that joins public networks it is worth enabling; it will not interfere with normal browsing or app use.

When you are done here, the settings worth changing covers the non-privacy defaults, and the setup mistakes covers what not to do.