How to open an app with Open Anyway on a Mac

Open Anyway is the one-time approval macOS asks for when it can't check an app with Apple, most often because the app isn't notarized. macOS saves that app as an exception, so you do it once, and every other app is still checked as before. Apple's guide is blunt about the risk: overriding these settings is the most common way a Mac gets infected with malware, and Apple advises against it for an app it hasn't checked. Do it only for an app you trust: what the warning means, and when it's reasonable to override it.

On macOS 15 and later

Apple's guides for macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 describe the same steps.

1. Try to open the app

   Double-click it, from the Applications folder if you've installed it there. macOS says it can't verify the app and leaves it closed. Click Done, not Move to Trash.

2. Open Privacy & Security

   Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.

3. Scroll down to Security

   Near the bottom, under Security, a line names the app and says it was blocked to protect your Mac. The Open Anyway button is next to it.

4. Click Open Anyway

   macOS shows its warning again, this time with a button to open the app. Click it only if you're sure.

5. Enter your password

   Enter your login password and click OK. The app opens.

From now on the app opens with a double-click, like any other. Apple notes that the Open Anyway button is available for about an hour after you try to open the app, so if you come back later, start again from the first step.

On macOS 14

On macOS 14 Sonoma, Apple's guide describes a shortcut in the Finder:

1. Find the app in the Finder

   It's usually in the Applications folder. Don't use Launchpad: Apple notes it doesn't give you the shortcut menu.

2. Control-click it and choose Open

   Control-click the app's icon (or right-click it), then choose Open from the shortcut menu.

3. Click Open

   In the message that appears, click Open. macOS saves the app as an exception.

Open Anyway works on macOS 14 too: after you try to open the app, the button appears in Privacy & Security under Security on the right, for about an hour. Apple's guides for macOS 15 and later describe only the System Settings route, so use that on newer versions.

The button isn't there

• More than about an hour has passed. Open the app again, click Done, and go straight back to Privacy & Security.
• You haven't tried to open the app yet. The button only appears after macOS has blocked the app once.
• You're looking in another section. It's in Privacy & Security, under the Security heading near the bottom of the page, not in General.
• Your Mac allows apps from the App Store only. If Allow applications from under Security is set to App Store, macOS won't open apps from anywhere else and shows a different alert. Apple's article says to allow apps from both the App Store and identified developers: on macOS 15 and later that choice is App Store & Known Developers; on macOS 14 the setting is Allow applications downloaded from, and the choice is App Store and identified developers.
• Your Mac is managed by an organization. Apple notes these settings might not be available on a Mac an administrator or IT department manages. Ask them.
• The alert said something else. If macOS said the app will damage your computer, that it's damaged, or that it was moved to the Trash, it found a problem rather than a missing check. Don't look for a way around it: get a fresh copy from the developer, or ask them.

It still won't open

1. Install it first

   If the app came on a disk image, drag it into Applications, eject the disk image, and open the copy in Applications. That way the copy you approve is the one you keep.

2. Check it's made for your Mac

   Apple's guide to apps that won't open notes that after a macOS upgrade, some apps need to be updated or reinstalled, and that on a Mac where you aren't an administrator, the administrator may be preventing you from using the app.

3. Download it again

   A copy that was modified or damaged on the way can't be opened. Download a fresh one from the developer's own website, not a mirror.

4. Ask the developer

   They know what the first open of their app should look like, and whether it supports your version of macOS.

Change your mind

Open Anyway approves that one app; your security settings for everything else stay as they were. Apple's guides don't describe a switch that withdraws an exception, so if you no longer trust the app, remove it and what you gave it:

• Quit the app and move it to the Trash.
• Take back its permissions. In Privacy & Security, turn the app off, or remove it, in lists such as Accessibility, Input Monitoring and Screen Recording.
• Remove it from your login items. In General › Login Items & Extensions (Login Items on macOS 14), take it out of Open at Login and turn off its background switch: see login items on a Mac.

With Flick

Flick, the window switcher we make, is signed but not notarized yet, so these are the steps you follow once, the first time you open it. The installation guide walks through them for Flick on macOS 14 and on macOS 15 and later.

Drag Flick into Applications before you open it, so the copy you approve is the one that stays. If you do open it straight from the disk image, Flick offers to move itself to Applications, which also lets it update itself later: why Flick asks to move to Applications.

Is Flick safe? What you're approving, and what it can access