AI Overlay for Pearson VUE OnVUE - IT and Cert Exams on Mac
Pearson VUE's OnVUE service delivers most of the world's remotely-proctored IT certification exams (Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, AWS, GIAC, ITIL). On Mac, it runs as a downloaded native app that takes over the screen and live-streams to a remote proctor.
OnVUE is a notarized macOS app, not a browser extension. It captures the screen at the OS level using ScreenCaptureKit (on macOS 12.3+) plus AVFoundation for the webcam and microphone. Both APIs read from a frame buffer Apple constructs after applying window-level privacy. LDBypass sets that privacy flag the moment its window appears, so OnVUE's capture buffer for that frame skips the LDBypass content entirely. The webcam check, room scan, ID verification, and biometric sign-in are unrelated to the overlay and behave normally.
Key points
- OnVUE prevents app switching during the exam by killing background processes; LDBypass is whitelisted because it never tries to grab focus from OnVUE.
- The pre-exam room scan asks you to show the entire room with your phone or laptop camera; close the overlay window during that scan, then re-open it.
- OnVUE's "secondary monitor" detection counts external displays via macOS APIs; running on a single laptop screen is fine.
- IT cert exams (CCNA, A+, AWS-SAA, etc.) all flow through the same OnVUE codebase with the same screen-capture surface.
How it works
┌── macOS host ─────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌── proctor desktop app ───────┐ │ │ │ Calls ScreenCaptureKit / │ ← misses │ │ │ CGWindowListCreateImage │ flagged │ │ └──────────────────────────────┘ windows │ │ │ │ ┌── LDBypass overlay window ───┐ │ │ │ sharingType = .none │ ← invisible │ │ └──────────────────────────────┘ to capture│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Compatibility on Mac
| macOS 14 Sonoma+ | Yes (required for window-privacy API) | ✓ |
| Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) | Native arm64 build | ✓ |
| Intel Macs (2019+) | Universal binary supported | ✓ |
| OnVUE app for Mac | macOS 12.3+ for ScreenCaptureKit | ✓ |
| External monitors | OnVUE may block; use built-in display only | ~ |
| Pearson VUE testing center | In-person, irrelevant to overlay | ✗ |
Common questions
Will OnVUE detect that LDBypass is running?
OnVUE checks the running-process list before launch. LDBypass uses a randomized bundle ID and innocuous display name (SystemDiagnostics, NetworkService, etc.) per build, so the process name OnVUE sees does not flag.
What about the room scan with my phone camera?
The room scan is a one-shot 360 video from your phone. The overlay is invisible only to the Mac's screen capture, not to a separate camera. Close it during the scan.
Is the overlay invisible during the live human proctor stream?
Yes. The proctor sees the same captured frames that OnVUE has already filtered through ScreenCaptureKit. The flagged window is not in those frames.