Taccy For Mac

Apps are restricted in what they can access when run on your Mac, but it’s not always entirely clear what it is that they can do. If you know what you’re doing, the specifics can be very revealing, provided you have a way to get them.

Taccy can do exactly that — it inspects apps and installer packages to see exactly what they are allowed to do and whether they are safe to run. It can also generate logs that are helpful for advanced users.

When you launch the app, it will only appear in your Dock. To see the interface, you either have to drop an app or installer on its Dock icon or select it from the File menu. The analysis is quick, and you’ll see the results in the main window.

You’ll notice a bunch of checkboxes here, but nothing can be toggled on or off, which was my initial impression as well. Similarly, the Save button isn’t for these checkboxes, but for the log below, should you wish to export it to a text file.

Aside from the bundle identifier and version, you can also see if an app was signed by Apple, whether it’s from the App Store, hardened, or notarized, or just signed with a Developer ID. Below that, there’s the SDK version it was built against.

Next, the stuff most users will care about. The app shows you which classes of data the app has the ability to access, and whether it uses public access flags or Apple’s private flags. The latter should only be found in apps made by Apple.

It would be great if more information about each parameter was provided when hovering over the checkboxes, as the current tooltip is likely unintended and provides no useful info.

If you head to the Window menu, you can bring up the log window, where you can see all TCC, LaunchServices, securityd, and other entries. This feature requires you to be an admin, and it’s only really useful for experts. Keep in mind that generating a log can take a very long time if you go too far back.

Whether you’re a developer, researcher, or just interested in how apps handle your data, Taccy is a pretty cool utility to try out. It’s simple enough to use, but very powerful in the right hands.