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Open Sound Connect
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Open Sound Connect

Allow Bluetooth access

Open Sound Connect asks for one permission: Bluetooth. Without it, your headphones still play audio, but the app can't read or change their settings.

Short answer

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Bluetooth and switch on Open Sound Connect, then quit and reopen the app. If you chose Don't Allow earlier, the app's window says Bluetooth Access Is Off and its Open Privacy Settings button takes you straight there.

Why the app needs Bluetooth

Open Sound Connect talks to your Sony headphones directly, over Bluetooth, to read their settings (battery, noise control, equalizer and the rest) and to change them when you ask. macOS treats that as access to Bluetooth, so it asks you once, the first time the app opens:

Open Sound Connect talks to your Sony headphones over Bluetooth on this Mac to read and change their settings. Nothing leaves your Mac.

Choose Allow. The headphone controls, scenes and settings stay on your Mac; the permission doesn't give the app access to anything else.

Pairing is separate: you pair the headphones once in System Settings → Bluetooth, and the app uses that pairing. See how to connect Sony headphones to a Mac.

If you chose Don't Allow

Nothing breaks, but the app can't reach the headphones until you turn the permission on:

  1. Open the app. Its window shows Bluetooth Access Is Off.
  2. Choose Open Privacy Settings. (Or open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Bluetooth yourself.)
  3. Switch on Open Sound Connect.
  4. Quit Open Sound Connect from its menu bar icon (Quit) or with ⌘Q, and open it again.

Your headphones appear in My Device within a few seconds.

If the app isn't in the list

macOS adds an app to Privacy & Security → Bluetooth only after the app has asked. If it isn't there:

  • Make sure you're opening the copy in Applications, not one left in Downloads or inside the archive.
  • Open it once and wait for the prompt.
  • If there's still no prompt and no switch, reset the permission so macOS asks again. In Terminal, run tccutil reset BluetoothAlways dev.rolottr.SoundConnect, then open the app and choose Allow.

Bluetooth itself is off

If the window says Bluetooth Is Off, the permission is fine but your Mac's Bluetooth isn't on. Choose Open Bluetooth Settings in the app, or turn Bluetooth on from Control Center, and the app connects by itself.

Other permissions

Open Sound Connect doesn't ask for your microphone, location, contacts or files. Two optional things may come up later:

  • Open at Login. After your headphones first connect, the app offers to open at login, quietly in the menu bar. macOS may ask you to approve it under System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
  • Files you choose. Exporting the Activity log or picking an app for a scene's trigger uses the standard macOS file dialog, which gives access only to the file you pick.

Still no headphones after allowing Bluetooth? Work through headphones connected but not detected.

Common
questions

Does allowing Bluetooth let the app hear my microphone?

No. The Bluetooth permission lets the app exchange settings messages with your headphones. It doesn't give access to audio, the microphone or any other device.

Do I have to allow Bluetooth again after an update?

No. When you replace the app in Applications with a newer version, macOS keeps the permission.

Is the Mac App Store version different?

It asks for the same Bluetooth permission. It has no network access at all, so it doesn't need anything else.

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