Privileges - Operate Your Mac Safely

As much as you may not want to hear it, using an administrator account on your Mac as your daily driver is absolutely not the best practice. It's bad because it provides full access rights across the system to every application and process running in that account. If malware or a bad actor gains control of the administrator account, they could potentially install unwanted applications, alter system settings, or access or delete sensitive data. Limiting the use of an administrator account helps to mitigate these risks. Unfortunately, most people consider it a huge hassle to use the standard Mac method of temporarily elevating the privileges of a standard account. So they just accept the risk and use an admin account anyway. You don't have to be like them.

Use the free app, Privileges, a macOS application that lets users perform daily tasks as a standard user while easily requesting administrator rights. Users can set a specific timeframe in the app's settings to handle tasks like installing or uninstalling applications. To request admin rights, just click the Privileges icon in your Dock or menu bar. Using a standard user account instead of an administrator enhances your Mac's security and is a best practice. All users, including developers, can benefit from using Privileges. The app is compatible with macOS 11.x - 15.x. It has recently been updated.

Features

• Easy install
• Perfect for day-to-day use
• Turn on admin rights anytime
• Enjoy standard user security
• Command line use supported

New Privileges 2.1 features

• Installer package
• Revoke admin rights at login
• Unified expiration interval for administrator privileges
• Renew expiring administrator privileges
• Run actions on privilege change
• Status item
• Command line tool now also supports Touch ID
• AppleScript support

You can download the Privileges installer on GitHub.