Wants Access To Control Safari.app
Mac's robust security features may often warn you when one of your applications is trying to engage in shady behavior. One of the popular alerts that users are searching for online is the so-called 'wants access to control Safari.app' Pop-Up. Typically, this message includes an extra part, which says that a specific app is trying to control 'Safari.app' – for example, 'Finder.app' is a frequent offender. However, is this message a reason to worry, and what could the consequences of ignoring it be? This is the full message:
'Finder.app' wants access to control 'Safari.app'. Allowing control will provide access to documents and data in 'Safari.app', and to perform actions within that app.
If you see the aforementioned text, then you should know that there is probably nothing shady about it – Finder.app is a legitimate Mac service. Of course, do not forget that sometimes shady apps might mimic legit apps too – you may want to check if there is a fake Finder.app on your Mac. The best way to do this is to run an up-to-date Mac security tool, which will scan your entire system for issues.
However, if an unknown application is trying to take control over Safari, then you certainly have something to worry about. While this might not be necessarily malicious behavior, it could be a browser hijacker or adware trying to manage Safari. If you allow this to happen, you may start seeing extra ads, or experience random redirects to low-quality Web pages.
If you see the 'wants access to control Safari.app' Pop-Up randomly, we advise you to select Don't Allow. After this, run a security scanner and make sure that there is no shady apps on your device.