Instant recording cannot be clicked or started on macOS Tahoe 26

[alex-vertrauensfunnel]

Describe the bug

On macOS Tahoe 26, the Cap desktop app launches successfully and some recording modes work,
but the Instant recording option cannot be clicked or started. I'm on Self Hosted. Everything works fine in the Browser.

Studio works.
Screenshot works.
Instant does not respond when I try to click/start it.

To Reproduce

1. Open the Cap desktop app on macOS.
2. Go to the recording mode selection.
3. Try to start Studio.
4. Try to start Screenshot.
5. Try to click or start Instant.

Expected behavior

Clicking Instant should start an instant recording flow, or at least open the expected
permission/setup/start state.

Actual behavior

The Instant option cannot be clicked or started. Nothing happens when trying to use it.

Environment

• App: Cap Desktop App
• OS: macOS Tahoe 26
• Device: Mac mini
• Chip: Apple M2 Pro
• Memory: 16 GB RAM

Additional context

Studio and Screenshot recording modes are working on the same machine, so the issue seems
specific to the Instant recording mode rather than the whole desktop app or general screen
recording permissions.

[linear]

CAP-688

[tembo]

This is likely related to the same macOS 26 (Tahoe) SCShareableContent API changes discussed in #1654. The fact that Studio and Screenshot modes work but Instant doesn't is an important clue.

Looking at the code, all three mode buttons in apps/desktop/src/components/Mode.tsx use the same click handling pattern, and there's no UI-level disabled state. The difference is what happens at recording start time:

• Instant mode requires authentication and attempts to create an upload link before capturing starts (apps/desktop/src-tauri/src/recording.rs:654-703)
• On macOS, Instant recording also calls acquire_shareable_content_for_target() at recording.rs:865 which can fail with GetShareableContent/DisplayMissing if display mapping is stale

A few things to check:

1. Are you signed in? Self-hosted instances still require authentication for Instant mode. If not signed in, you should see an error "Please sign in to use instant recording" - but if this error dialog isn't appearing, there may be an upstream issue silently blocking the flow.

2. Check the logs at ~/Library/Logs/so.cap.desktop/ - they should show whether the click is being registered and where it's failing (auth check vs. display lookup vs. something else).

3. Try clicking the Start Recording button after selecting Instant mode rather than the mode icon itself. The mode selection is separate from starting the recording.

If you're seeing no response at all when clicking, no error dialogs, and nothing in the logs, the click event might not be reaching the handler - which would be unusual since Studio/Screenshot work. macOS 26 has had some AppKit/SwiftUI interaction changes that could potentially affect Tauri window event handling.

CC @CapSoftware/maintainers - this may be related to the broader macOS 26 SCShareableContent display mapping issues in #1654.