Obsidian on macOS has just requested permissions to access the Local Network, which I denied.
Why is Obsidian requesting such permissions?
Could it be one of your plugins asking for access? Or possibly just a refresh of the community plugins or something like that? (Obsidian is 99% local, but there are few network calls it does, but I’ve never experienced such a question in my setup. So I’m leaning towards some plugin of yours to trigger this request)
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While prioritizing the local-first approach of our application, Obsidian does make network calls based on the services and features you use. These network connections can be disabled via a domain firewall or application lockdown. … The following is a list of network connections Obsidian makes. (Security considerations for teams - Obsidian Help)
These are the plugins I have installed: Git, Latex Suite, TikZJax.
I’ve always had these plugins, for a very long time. However I never saw this permission request before so I got curious what it could be.
I understand macOS recently (since Sonoma?) added this “Local Network” permission setting for apps. Perhaps that help page could be updated to mention that? And listing conditions under which this particular permission might be requested?
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Actually, I had kind of glossed over the permission being "Local Network. That’s for connecting to devices on a local network; I think it may be commonly requested by apps that you might stream to a TV or whatnot.
I haven’t seen that request recently, but if it was introduced in Sonoma, that was over a year ago so I’d have dealt with it then. I don’t see Obsidian as an option to enable in (MacOS) Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network. Maybe it appears there if you play audio or video in Obsidian? Or maybe a plugin is behind it; I don’t know if they can do that, and the ones you list don’t seem like they’d need it.
Actually it is sometimes necessary in some unexpected places. E.g., if you use VS code and ssh to a remote host (with their Remote Development plugin), that may need in some cases the “Local Network” permission. See for instance macos15 · Issue #9974 · microsoft/vscode-remote-release · GitHub (and many other related issues).
I do have it there. Maybe it will only appear after something triggers the permission request.
Yes, I agree the plugins I have do not seem to need that permission. Maybe some of them want to use ssh for something? I don’t know… I have no explanation. I denied the permission, and haven’t seen the request since.