Run my plugin installers – even though they’re not from the Mac App Store

Mac OS X  has many security features – the most important of which are default settings that protect Mac users. A recent addition is ‘Gatekeeper’ which has a function of preventing some applications from running on your Mac.

The default setting protects users: Only software downloaded from the Apple-curated Mac App Store can be opened.

If you want to install any of my recent plugins, that is a problem. I don’t yet sell software on the Mac App Store.

There are two ways around this: use an alternate method to open my installers, or change the Gatekeeper setting to allow my installers to open normally.

Run my installers using a shortcut

Instead of double-clicking the installer, control- or right-click it to see a shortcut menu. Choose Open from the menu. You’ll see a different message:

Click Open. If you need to run the installer again, OS X will allow you to do this by double-clicking as normal.

Change OS X security settings

To change the OS X security settings, choose System Preferences… from the Apple menu, and click Security & Privacy:

You’ll see that the default setting is to only allow applications downloaded from the Mac App Store to run: 

You’ll see that the setting you need to change is greyed out. To change it, click the lock and enter your password. Change it to Allow applications downloaded from: Mac App Store and identified developers.

Close the Security & Privacy panel to finish.

This setting isn’t as safe as only allowing applications from the Mac App Store. But  I’m an identified developer. This means if I include unapproved software in any of my applications, Apple can instantly disable all my apps wherever they are installed.