Skip to content

How to run unsigned apps on Mac

hn-88 edited this page Dec 24, 2025 · 4 revisions

Copy-pasting from Mac user guide

Apple can’t check app for malicious software

Using an app that can’t be checked for malicious software might harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.

Overriding security settings to open an app is the most common way that a Mac gets infected with malware. You should not override security settings if an app hasn’t been checked by Apple, even if the app looks like it comes from a major developer. The safest approach is to look for a version of the app from the Mac App Store or look for an alternative app.

However, if you choose, you can still open an app that isn’t allowed to open by manually overriding Privacy & Security settings.

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)

Go to Security (you may need to scroll down here, too), then click Open.

Click Open Anyway.

This button is available for about an hour after you try to open the app.

Enter your login password, then click OK.

The app is saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it, just as you can for any authorized app.

Additional file-read permissions for OpenSpace

When starting OpenSpace for the first time, an additional pop-up asking for permissions to read and write files is presented. You would need to allow OpenSpace to do these actions also for OpenSpace to work.

Clone this wiki locally