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Touch ID Not Working When Screen Recording Is Active

TL;DR: 

When Time Doctor screen recording is active on macOS, Touch ID may not appear for sudo authentication. In this case, macOS falls back to password authentication instead. This behavior was tested within Time Doctor and is treated as expected system behavior in this scenario.

 

On macOS, Touch ID used with sudo may stop working while Time Doctor screen recording is active.Instead of showing the Touch ID prompt, the system falls back to password authentication.Based on testing, this is expected behavior in this scenario and is related to macOS privacy and security behavior during active screen capture.

Environment
  • OS: macOS
  • App: Time Doctor Desktop App
  • Feature: Screen recording and Touch ID for sudo
Findings

When screen recording, screen sharing, or display capture is active, Touch ID for sudo authentication may be unavailable.If this happens, macOS requires the account password instead.This behavior can occur while Time Doctor is actively recording the screen and is considered an operating system-level security behavior in this tested scenario.

Enable Touch ID for Sudo

To enable Touch ID for sudo, configure the local PAM file.

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Run the following command: sudo nano /etc/pam.d/sudo_local

  3. Add this line at the top of the file: auth sufficient pam_tid.so

  4. Save and exit:
    • Press Ctrl + O, then press Enter
    • Press Ctrl + X
 
Test the Configuration
  1. Open Terminal again.
  2. Run: sudo -v
  3. Confirm whether the Touch ID prompt appears.
 
Reproduce the Behavior
  1. Enable Touch ID for sudo using pam_tid.so.
  2. Start screen recording.
    • Example: keep Time Doctor active with screen recording enabled
    • Example: start screen sharing or recording in apps such as Slack or Loom
  3. Run the following command in Terminal: sudo -v
  4. Check whether Touch ID appears.
  5. If Touch ID does not appear, enter the password when prompted.
 
Action Taken
  • Verified that screen recording was active
  • Identified an OS-level limitation affecting Touch ID
  • Confirmed fallback to password authentication during testing
 
Recommendation

Inform the user that this is expected behavior in this tested scenario.If Time Doctor screen recording is active, Touch ID for sudo may not appear, and macOS may require password authentication instead.

 

 

 
 
 

Should there be any inconsistencies or concerns regarding the article, contact support@timedoctor.com for prompt assistance.