The safety of our products is our priority and, in particular, Apple pays a lot of attention to this. The company includes the technology known as Gatekeeperr, which guarantees that your Mac only opens trusted software. However, this can be wrong sometimes, today we will see How to safely open unknown apps on macOS.
The App Store is the safe place for Apple users to go when they want to get new apps. The company reviews all apps to ensure they have not been tampered with, and if any of them were to present any problems, they could easily be removed. Here's everything you need to know about the topic.
Download apps from anywhere on Mac
The applications present in the macOS App Store can be installed on your device safely and quickly. But, on many occasions, you may want to use apps that are not available in the official Apple storeIt may also be that the version you need can only be downloaded directly from the app's page.
Regardless of the reason you decide to use a specific app on your Mac, it is always you must think about your safety. In the past, it was discovered that certain applications in the App Store could contain malware.
It's obvious to you then that apps that don't belong to the store are at a much higher risk. All of this could also lead to compatibility issues.
The Californian company has rules regarding which apps are allowed and which are not allowed in the App Store. The aim of these is to protect customers and guarantee the high quality that characterises them.
In case some app does not meet any requirement or the developer simply does not want to be included in the store, you can still have them. make direct downloads from developers' websites or other official sites.
What to do if alerts appear when opening an app?
When trying to open an application on your Mac, you may see: various warning messages. You should be careful if, despite the warning displayed by the computer, you decide to install the software. Below we show you some of them.
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Alert that an app was downloaded from the internetWhen you first open an app from a named developer that's downloaded outside of the App Store, your computer will ask if you're sure you want to open it.
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Apple cannot check if the app contains malwareIf the company can't verify whether an app contains malware, it will tell you to contact the developer or find an alternative version.
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The app developer cannot be verified. If the developer cannot be verified and the app has not been authenticated by Apple (as of macOS Catalina), it cannot be verified that it does not contain malware. You will need to do the same as in the previous alert.
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Alert that the app was not downloaded from the App StoreYour Mac won't open any app that isn't downloaded from the App Store if you don't allow it in your privacy and security settings. If you know the tool is from a trusted source, you might want to temporarily bypass that setting and open it.
Open unknown apps on macOS safely
Running any application that has not been certified can expose your Mac and all the personal information on it. Any malicious software could endanger your privacy or harm your computer.
If you're sure the app you want to open comes from a trusted source, you'll be able to do so. You can temporarily bypass your Mac's security settings to open it.
After trying to open the app, follow the instructions presented here:
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Press on Privacy & Security, scroll down and click on the button Open equally to confirm that you want to open or install the application.
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The warning message will appear again, click on Open, if you want to do it anyway.
The application will be saved in your device's security settings as an exceptionFrom that moment on, you can open it just like you do with any other authorized application, just by double-clicking it.
Make changes to an app's security settings on Mac
Uninstall the app on the Mac
Uninstalling an app will be the same whether it was downloaded from the App Store or from an external website. If it already has its own folder and file to uninstall it, you will just need to run it. If it doesn't have one, erase the folder app Applications, drag it to the paper bin and to conclude, empty it.
Some uninstalled software sometimes leaves files in other parts of your Mac. You could delete them manually, but finding them might take longer than you think.
Privacy Protections
The Mac operating system was designed to protect the security of its customers' data. Gatekeeper periodically checks any application for known malware. It does this by using a fail-safe encrypted connection from the host. It is also able to check if the developer's certificate has been revoked.
None of these security checks have included the identity of the device or the user's Apple Account.. To further protect privacy, no IP address logs are left associated with Developer ID certificate checks. This ensures that that the accumulated IP addresses are successfully removed from the logs.
Information about the checks is never combined with information about Apple users or their devices, nor is it used to track what Apple customers are using on their devices.
And that's all! We hope we've been helpful in providing you with information on how to safely open unknown apps on macOS. Let us know in the comments below! if you frequently download apps from sites other than the Apple Store and have had any bad experiences before.