macOS 15.5 Sequoia privacy indicator on main screen

petcode's icon

Hello Jitter Pros,

I want to play fullscreen movies on two screens using a M4 MacMini. The sound is multichannel. So i have to use an external sound card.

When I switch on the dac~, the privacy indicator is then displayed on the main screen, even if the input device is set to "None".

I disabled the privacy indicator on secondary screens:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → privacy indicator

using the command in Recovery mode:
system-override suppress-sw-camera-indication-on-external-displays=on

The orange privacy indicator is not shown at the external screen, but still stays on the main monitor. Same result on a standalone and running the patch inside Max.

This also happens with input device is set to "None". Which I do not need. I only want to play sound.

The funny thing is: If you set the input devise to "None" using the mouse, the privacy indicator is not visible for 2 seconds. It then appears again automatically.

The only solution I see is to attach an additional monitor to worship the orange dot :-)

Perhaps someone has a hint for me.

I am on macOS 15.5 Sequoia.

All the best,
petcode

2K's icon

Can’t repro right now, but if the native commands didn’t work I’d try YellowDot real quick, might just solve it.

Rob Ramirez's icon

If you're not using audio input then the dot should not appear. What version of Max are you using? Make sure you have the latest of either Max 8 or Max 9. On my machine, setting audio input to none keeps the dot away.

otherwise, i single display just for the dot my be your best solution for non-laptops unfortunately. You can get cheapo mini displays from alibaba or wherever.

petcode's icon

Thank you all for your responses.

Strange, on my M4 MacMini the red dot is definitly visible with no Audio input activated.
Every time I activate the dac~ as described above.

Soundcard is Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Max version 8.6.5., macOS 15.5 Sequoia

All the best,
petcode

Jan M's icon

This dot can be pesky. The above mentioned YellowDot app will s a workaround but it does its job well.

Rob Ramirez's icon

yellowdot only works for macos < 12.2.

I'm guessing the sound card driver for your device is triggering the input notification or something. Such a pain.

riccardo dapelo's icon

It did the job for me (I had problem during video projection, not audio)

Mac OSx 14.7.6

Max 9.0.7

Edit: I see now that's not compatible with Sequoia, Sorry

petcode's icon

Hello all,

Again thanks a lot for all the advices.
Had to finish the installation yesterday.

Ended up using an additional monitor.
The installation runs for half a year.

Will investigate further with an other machine and another Focusrite sound card.

All the best,
petcode

Jan M's icon

Good to read that you found a solution.

I just checked YellowDot again. The version 2 also works on actual versions of MacOS

Just in case someone stumbles across this thread in the future.