macOS says Flick is malware or will damage your Mac

Get Flick working again

1. Move the old Flick to the Trash

   If macOS is showing its message about Flick, click Move to Trash; if it says Flick was already moved to the Trash, go on to step 2. Otherwise, drag Flick from your Applications folder to the Trash. Your license and settings aren't stored inside the app, so they stay on your Mac.

2. Download Flick 1.1.1

   Get it from the download page, open the disk image and drag Flick into your Applications folder. Open it from there.

3. Approve it once

   Flick 1.1.1 isn't notarized either, so macOS asks you to approve it, this time with its usual message for an app Apple couldn't check (on macOS 15 and later, “Flick” Not Opened). Click Done, then Open Anyway in System Settings › Privacy & Security. On macOS 14, Control-click Flick in Applications and choose Open. The first open, step by step

4. Turn on Accessibility again

   macOS sees 1.1.1 as a new app, so Flick's welcome window asks for Accessibility once more. If Flick is already listed in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, that entry belongs to the old copy: select it and click −. Then click Grant Accessibility Permissions in Flick's welcome window and turn on the switch next to Flick.

If you use browser tabs, macOS may ask again for each browser you turned on; allow it, as you did the first time. If a browser's tabs don't come back, reset Flick's Automation answers and allow each browser again.

What happened

Flick 1.0 and 1.1 were signed with an Apple development certificate, not a Developer ID certificate, and that certificate was revoked on October 13, 2026. Since then, macOS refuses to open them. macOS checks online whether an app's signing certificate has been revoked (Apple's article on opening apps safely), and once it has, it blocks every app signed with it, including copies that opened fine the day before.

Depending on your version of macOS, the message says Malware Blocked (“Flick” was not opened because it contains malware), that Flick can't be opened, or that it will damage your computer. macOS may move Flick to the Trash itself, or offer to, and offer to report it to Apple. Apple lists a revoked authorization among the reasons for these messages, and its guide to revoked apps suggests checking with the developer for an updated version. That's Flick 1.1.1.

The message is about the certificate, not about anything macOS found in Flick. Nothing changed in the app, and nothing you did caused it.

How Flick 1.1.1 is signed

Flick 1.1.1 has an ad-hoc signature: it uses no certificate, so it names no developer and there's nothing that can be revoked. It isn't notarized either, so macOS asks you to approve each copy you download yourself, once. Updates you install from inside Flick are signed with Flick's update key and don't need that approval, but Flick asks for Accessibility again after each one. How updates are checked

Check your download

We publish Flick only on flicknav.com. To confirm the disk image you downloaded is the one we published, open Terminal, type shasum -a 256 and a space, drag the disk image onto the window and press Return. For Flick 1.1.1 in your Downloads folder, that's:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Flick-1.1.1.dmg

The 64-character code at the start of what it prints must match the code in the SHA-256 file linked under the button on the download page, character for character.

If it still doesn't work

• macOS still says Flick is malware, can't be opened or will damage your Mac. You're opening an older copy, perhaps one left in your Downloads folder, on an old disk image or in another folder. Select Flick in the Finder and choose File › Get Info: the version must be 1.1.1. Move every older copy to the Trash.
• There's no Open Anyway button. It appears for about an hour after you try to open Flick. Open Flick from Applications again, click Done, and go straight back to Privacy & Security.
• Accessibility is on, but Flick shows no windows. The switch still belongs to the old copy. Remove Flick from the list with −, add it back with +, and turn it on. The steps
• Flick asks for your license key. It shouldn't, because your license is kept in a file on your Mac. If it does, email us before you activate again, and we'll make sure it doesn't cost you a seat.

Questions