diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.test.ts
index 81889f9f0..d0548c78c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.test.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ describe("macOS modifier pair poller", () => {
     const poller = spawnedPollers[0]!;
     expect(poller.command).toBe("/usr/bin/osascript");
     expect(poller.args.slice(-2)).toEqual(["8", "16"]);
+    const script = poller.args[3]!;
+    expect(script.indexOf("NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited")).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(script.indexOf("NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited")).toBeLessThan(
+      script.indexOf('ObjC.import("CoreGraphics")'),
+    );
 
     poller.emitStderr("ready\ntrig");
     const stop = await started;
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.ts b/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.ts
index 1c638f244..c869e92ef 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/snapShot/MacModifierPairShortcutProcess.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ const MAC_MODIFIER_PAIR_DEVICE_MASKS: Record<SnapShotModifier, readonly [number,
 };
 
 const POLLER_SCRIPT = `
+// Apply background-only policy before CoreGraphics connects to the window server.
+ObjC.import("AppKit");
+$.NSApplication.sharedApplication.setActivationPolicy($.NSApplicationActivationPolicyProhibited);
 ObjC.import("CoreGraphics");
 ObjC.import("unistd");
 function run(argv) {