The Mac App Store is packed with useful macOS apps, but not everything is there. Some programs need to be installed outside of the App Store. That’s how you do that.
Download macOS apps outside of the App Store
While you can find almost everything you need on your Mac in applications in the App Store, some apps require you to download them separately. Consider, for example, the Mac app for Spotify or if you want to install the Google Chrome browser.
You often install such programs from your own website or from a zip file. But in order to do this, your Mac must have the correct settings. You can set this as follows.
- Click on the Apple logo and go to ‘System Preferences’;
- Then go to ‘Security and privacy’ and click on the ‘General’ tab;
- If you have set this up, tap the padlock and enter your password to be able to change the settings;
- Under the heading ‘Allow programs downloaded at’, tap the following option: ‘App Store and developers whose identity is known’.
This allows you to download programs from the App Store as well as from recognized and authenticated developers. This includes the aforementioned examples, along with many other well-known apps.
But as of macOS Sierra, Apple has removed the third option to allow apps from any source. Gatekeeper, the software that checks whether something outside the App Store has been authenticated, has been made a lot stricter by Apple in order to guarantee more security.
This is how the tighter macOS security works
Because of this stricter Gatekeeper, you can no longer just get all apps on your Mac outside the App Store. In addition, you will receive a warning message with every app, authenticated or not.
When you open an app from a well-known developer for the first time, you will see the message below. This indicates that the app has passed a security check.
When installing an app that is not recognized, there is a yellow warning symbol. In addition, in many cases such programs do not succeed in opening the program after installation, because the app is not allowed on your Mac.
This does not necessarily mean that the app contains malware or is otherwise dangerous, but this is usually because the apps are outdated. The most recent version is often not registered. If an app doesn’t install or open outside the App Store, the solution is to see if there is a newer version (or look for an alternative).
If you still want to install an app from an unknown developer, you will need to temporarily override your Mac’s security settings and then open the app. To do this, click on the appropriate app in the Finder while holding Control. Then select ‘Open’ and ‘Open’ again in the dialog box that opens.
After this, the app is saved as an exception and will open just like any other app. Be aware that this prevents macOS from detecting any threats, malware or other viruses in that app.
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