Mac Shows "App Not From Mac App Store" or "Cannot Be Opened"? 3 Quick Ways to Bypass Gatekeeper

Many new users who have just switched from Windows to Mac, or veteran users who often download open-source tools from GitHub or official forums, have surely encountered this headache-inducing warning window:

“The app ‘XXX’ cannot be opened because it is not from the Mac App Store.”
or
”The app ‘XXX’ cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.”

The most frustrating part is that the dialog usually only offers the cold options of “OK” or “Move to Trash,” without even a “Continue” button, making people mistakenly think the software is infected or the file is corrupted.

Rest assured, this absolutely does not mean the app has a problem or necessarily contains malware! This is the built-in security mechanism of Apple’s macOS system at work. As long as you learn the following 3 tricks, you can safely and elegantly bypass the block in just a few seconds and successfully open the application you need.

Why Is It Blocked? Understanding macOS “Gatekeeper”

Apple has designed a security verification mechanism in macOS called “Gatekeeper.”

To prevent unknown Trojan viruses from harming users’ computers, macOS by default only allows the execution of:

1. Applications downloaded from the Mac App Store that have passed official manual review;
2. Or software from identified developers who hold an official Apple developer account and have completed Code Signing and online Notarization.

However, there is a large amount of excellent independent open-source software, useful scripts, or free personal tools online. Developers may not pay Apple’s $99 annual developer fee each year, or may not package and submit their software for Apple’s cloud notarization. When you try to run such software, Gatekeeper automatically intercepts it and pops up a warning.

As long as you are sure the download source is an official release channel (such as GitHub Releases or an official website), you can lift the restriction in the following ways.

Method 1: The Most Intuitive and Quick “Control-Click” Method (Recommended First Choice)

This is the simplest one-time authorization method that does not require changing any global system settings.

1. Find the app in Finder:
   Open Finder, switch to the “Applications” folder, and find the app icon that was just blocked.
2. Hold Control and click:
   Hold down the Control key on the keyboard and click the app with the left mouse button (or simply “right-click” on the app icon / two-finger tap on the trackpad).
3. Select “Open” from the menu:
   At the top of the pop-up context menu, click “Open.”
4. Click “Open” in the confirmation dialog:
   The system will pop up a security confirmation dialog again, but this time there will be an explicit “Open” button on the screen! Click “Open” to launch the program immediately.

Method 2: Allow It from Privacy in “System Settings”

If you just double-clicked and got blocked, you can also go directly to System Settings and manually press the allow button:

For newer macOS (Ventura / Sonoma / Sequoia and later)

1. Click the “**Apple menu **” at the top-left of the screen > “System Settings….”
2. In the left sidebar, click “Privacy & Security.”
3. Scroll down to the “Security” section, and you will see a line of text:
   “The use of ‘XXX’ was blocked because it is not from an identified developer.”
4. Click the “Open Anyway” button next to it.
5. Enter your Mac user password or use Touch ID as prompted, and it will run successfully.

For older macOS (Monterey, Big Sur, and earlier)

1. Click the “**Apple menu **” at the top-left > “System Preferences….”
2. Click “Security & Privacy” and switch to the “General” tab.
3. At the bottom, you will see the name of the blocked app; click the “Open Anyway” button.

Method 3: Advanced Trick! Terminal Commands to Clear the Quarantine Attribute and Enable “Anywhere”

If the app you downloaded even shows the extreme error “is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash,” it is usually because macOS has tagged the downloaded file with a quarantine attribute. At this point, you can use a Terminal command to clear it directly:…