The latest beta version of SecuritySpy is always here: SecuritySpy latest beta version. Please report any issues you find with SecuritySpy on Mojave beta to us by email. Thanks.
We have been testing and have found no issues with the current 4.2.8 release on Mojave beta. Also no issues have been reported by our beta testers or general user base (some of whom will be using the Mojave beta). So I am confident that there will be no issues.
After upgrade to Mojave, SecuritySpy 4.2.10 no longer records audio. Whereas I was asked to grant camera access on first start after Mojave upgrade, I wasn't asked about microphone access (and SecuritySpy does not appear in System Preferences > Security > Microphone).
Mojave requires the user's permission to access the Mac's audio input, and apparently any software wanting to record audio in this way needs to jump through a few hoops to make this request.
I'd also have to comment that with Mojave, I don't get any audio recorded with motion detection events. Using a Sunba 601-DX20 (H.265 newer model). The audio preview works ok though. Security prefs are set to allow mic access to SS.
We have just released a new version of SecuritySpy (4.2.9) that is officially compatible with Mojave. The issue with the audio is that Mojave requires applications to ask for user consent when opening Mac video and audio input devices, so we had to add this to get the audio working (video consent was already being asked for, just not audio consent).
I also have a similar issue in 4.2.9 since the upgrade to Mojave:
When switching the user (by fast user switching) SecuritySpy seems to loose all network connectivity. It can't reach any camera and also the web server isn't reachable at all. After returning to the user running SecuritySpy everything comes back working.
Hi @thohil - this is a different issue, but unfortunately seems to be expected behaviour: background accounts are cut off from CPU resources and/or the network. I don't think there is anything we can do about this in SecuritySpy.
is this a changed behaviour in Mojave and if yes, do you have some developer documentation about it, because in High Sierra it kept running flawlessly?
I have researched this further and have done some testing in Mojave.
It appears that the official expected behaviour has not changed: apps running in background user accounts should continue to operate. We've had reports from users of various recent macOS system versions that the performance in a background account isn't as good as in the foreground user account (perhaps CPU resources are limited, though there is no official guidance/documentation from Apple about this), but still it should at least work.
The exception to this is that background user accounts are restricted from accessing certain resources, such as USB and built-in cameras, so you won't be able to have SecuritySpy use such a camera from a background use account. But network cameras should work just fine, and all of SecuritySpy's normal features (recording, web access etc.) should also work just fine.
However, in my testing there does appear to be a bug in macOS Mojave related to window updating in background user accounts. I can't yet tell exactly what the trigger is, but updating the contents of an application's window can lead to the main thread of that application becoming blocked in some macOS window update code, which essentially causes a hang of the application, stopping all execution. Switching back to the user account running that application un-blocks the main thread.
In my testing, I was able to avoid this condition by closing all windows in SecuritySpy before switching accounts. Can you confirm this?
I'll have to do some more testing on this before I can determine whether there is some workaround, or whether I'll have to report this to Apple as a macOS bug.
I have some more details what exactly isn't working when fast user switching happens:
The continuous capturing and the motion capturing continue to work (files are written w/o problems) when no window is opened, but the web server still stops working. Thus the push notifications don't show any image and the web cannot be reached.
I am also running Mojave on a brand new MacBook Pro. I have done everything listed here and in your emails with no success. I cannot record any audio on motion capture, and also get many errors with audio not recording. I have all settings and permissions correct as far as I can tell. This is a single user on a single MacBook Pro.
Comments
After upgrade to Mojave, SecuritySpy 4.2.10 no longer records audio. Whereas I was asked to grant camera access on first start after Mojave upgrade, I wasn't asked about microphone access (and SecuritySpy does not appear in System Preferences > Security > Microphone).
Any suggestion?
Regards
Mojave requires the user's permission to access the Mac's audio input, and apparently any software wanting to record audio in this way needs to jump through a few hoops to make this request.
I'd also have to comment that with Mojave, I don't get any audio recorded with motion detection events. Using a Sunba 601-DX20 (H.265 newer model). The audio preview works ok though. Security prefs are set to allow mic access to SS.
Same issue with v 4.2.9 on Mojave.
No sound.
Regards
I also have a similar issue in 4.2.9 since the upgrade to Mojave:
When switching the user (by fast user switching) SecuritySpy seems to loose all network connectivity. It can't reach any camera and also the web server isn't reachable at all. After returning to the user running SecuritySpy everything comes back working.
Cheers,
Thomas
is this a changed behaviour in Mojave and if yes, do you have some developer documentation about it, because in High Sierra it kept running flawlessly?
It appears that the official expected behaviour has not changed: apps running in background user accounts should continue to operate. We've had reports from users of various recent macOS system versions that the performance in a background account isn't as good as in the foreground user account (perhaps CPU resources are limited, though there is no official guidance/documentation from Apple about this), but still it should at least work.
The exception to this is that background user accounts are restricted from accessing certain resources, such as USB and built-in cameras, so you won't be able to have SecuritySpy use such a camera from a background use account. But network cameras should work just fine, and all of SecuritySpy's normal features (recording, web access etc.) should also work just fine.
However, in my testing there does appear to be a bug in macOS Mojave related to window updating in background user accounts. I can't yet tell exactly what the trigger is, but updating the contents of an application's window can lead to the main thread of that application becoming blocked in some macOS window update code, which essentially causes a hang of the application, stopping all execution. Switching back to the user account running that application un-blocks the main thread.
In my testing, I was able to avoid this condition by closing all windows in SecuritySpy before switching accounts. Can you confirm this?
I'll have to do some more testing on this before I can determine whether there is some workaround, or whether I'll have to report this to Apple as a macOS bug.
unfortunately SecuritySpy stops responding even with all windows closed in that moment another user logs in by fast user switching.
The continuous capturing and the motion capturing continue to work (files are written w/o problems) when no window is opened, but the web server still stops working. Thus the push notifications don't show any image and the web cannot be reached.
It works indeed when no window is open. But not every time. I cannot determine under which circumstance it works and when not, yet.
I ended up restoring back to High Sierra for the time being.