Enable access for assistive devices programmatically on 10.9

Question

I want to enable access for assistive devices programatically on 10.9. On 10.8 and lower I was using following Applescript to enable access for assistive devices:

Answer 1

To add on to this, you can actually monitor if the user clicks the accessibility setting for your app so you can do some actions when the user grants the permission

(Swift 5, tested on Mojave and Catalina)

reading values:

private func readPrivileges(prompt: Bool) -> Bool {
    let options: NSDictionary = [kAXTrustedCheckOptionPrompt.takeRetainedValue() as NSString: prompt]
    let status = AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions(options)
    os_log("Reading Accessibility privileges - Current access status %{public}@", type: .info, String(status))
    return status
}

Monitoring for changes in accessibility:

DistributedNotificationCenter.default().addObserver(forName: NSNotification.Name("com.apple.accessibility.api"), object: nil, queue: nil) { _ in
  DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.1) {
    self.updatePrivileges()
  }
}

It is best to read the privileges again after getting the notification as the notification itself doesn't really work in my experience. So inside the updatePrivileges(), run readPrivileges() to get the new status.

You need the delay because it takes some time for the changes to be reflected.

Another thing you need to keep in mind while monitoring is that a notification will be fired for any app that gets different permissions, so if the user grants or revokes a different app you'll still get a notification.

Also, don't forget to remove the observer when you don't need it anymore.

edit:

Source: Accessbility Testbench by Piddlesoft