Hedroom asked for permission: what each prompt means
Setup asks for no admin password and no Full Disk Access. After that, Hedroom asks only when you turn on something that needs it, and it works without the rest. This page lists every prompt, so you can say yes or no knowing what it does.
These steps describe Hedroom 1.0. The app is not released yet, and the macOS wording and pane names below have not been checked on a signed release build, so System Settings may label things slightly differently.
The prompts at a glance
| Prompt | When it appears | If you say no |
|---|---|---|
| Notifications | In setup, when you press Allow. | Hedroom uses the menu bar dot. It cannot warn you when an app starts leaking. Everything else works. |
| Open at login | In setup, a switch that is on by default. | Hedroom does not start with your Mac. You open it yourself. |
| The helper (Login Items) | Only when you turn on a fan curve or raise the GPU memory limit. | Fans stay automatic and the GPU limit stays unchanged. |
| Desktop, Documents or Downloads | Only when you switch on a Storage review category that reads that folder. | That category is skipped. Other cleanup categories are unaffected. |
| Full Disk Access | Only for iPhone and iPad backups and Mail downloads in Storage. | Those rows read "Needs Full Disk Access". Everything else works. |
Notifications
Setup step 2 has a Notifications row. Press Allow and macOS asks once. Hedroom uses notifications to tell you an app is leaking or memory pressure is critical. They come with buttons such as Relaunch and Not now, and nothing happens until you press one.
If you said no, the button reads Ask again. If macOS will no longer ask, Hedroom shows a card, "Notifications are off", with Open System Settings. To change it, go to System Settings › Notifications › Hedroom. Hedroom limits itself to three non-urgent notifications a day.
Open at login
This switch in setup (and in Settings) starts Hedroom when you log in, so it can keep watching. It is on by default. If macOS needs your OK, Hedroom says "macOS needs your OK. Open System Settings › General › Login Items to allow Hedroom." Turn it off any time in Settings.
The helper
Two features need a small helper with admin rights: fan curves on a MacBook Pro, and a higher GPU memory limit. Hedroom shows a card and a button that opens System Settings › General › Login Items, where you switch Hedroom on under Allow in the Background. Nothing is registered until you ask for one of those features. Full steps, and how to turn it off again, are in Approve the helper.
Folder access
The default Storage scan looks at caches, leftovers and similar folders. Review categories that open Downloads, Desktop or Documents are off until you switch one on, then only that category is read. macOS then shows its own prompt, with Hedroom's text: "Hedroom looks in Downloads only when you turn on a review category that needs it. It never changes anything without your OK." (Desktop and Documents have the same line.) The switch resets when Hedroom quits.
If you said no, Hedroom shows "macOS blocked access, so its files aren't counted." with Open System Settings and Skip it. To allow it, use System Settings › Privacy & Security › Files & Folders.
Full Disk Access
Hedroom never asks for it in setup. It matters only if you turn on cleaning of iPhone and iPad backups or Mail downloads, because macOS protects those folders. The card says "iPhone backups need Full Disk Access. macOS protects the folder that holds them. Nothing else in Hedroom needs it." Press Not now to leave it. To allow it, use System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access.
Questions inside Hedroom are not permissions
Some dialogs come from Hedroom, not from macOS. They are consent, and they appear each time:
- Quitting an app asks first. Force quit needs a second, separate confirmation.
- Moving files to the Trash, emptying what Hedroom moved, and uninstalling need your confirmation of that exact list. There is no "don't ask again" for deleting, and no rule can delete anything.
Hedroom does not ask for Accessibility access. See what Hedroom never touches.
If you said no by mistake
- Open System Settings and go to the pane named in the table: Notifications, General › Login Items, or Privacy & Security.
- Find Hedroom in the list and switch it on.
- Go back to Hedroom and use the feature again.
If this did not work
If Hedroom is not in the list, open the feature again so it asks, then look again. If a prompt names Hedroom and you did not turn anything on, say no, and write to support with the exact prompt text and your Hedroom and macOS versions. Never send a license key or files. More: Security and Privacy.