In this guide, we will list a nifty workaround that should fix the “App Is Damaged and Can’t Be Opened” error on Mac. Installing the app on the Mac is just a breeze. All that you need to do is simply drag and drop the .DMG file [mountable disk images] to the Finder > Applications folder. Apart from that, there also exist PKG files that contain a script for the direct installation of that app, and is usually a multi-step installation process.
All in all, installing apps on your Mac is quite a simple and straightforward process. Or is that really the case? In some instances, that might prove to be easier said than done. Recently a slew of complaints were lined up across numerous forums wherein users have voiced their concern that they are unable to install apps on their Macs. Whenever they are trying to install it, they are instead greeted with the aforementioned error message.
Initially, it was assumed that the culprit was the app, however, since reports are coming from numerous different types of apps, all fingers are now pointing to the OS itself. We did some further investigation and found that it is indeed the case. So upon debugging, we managed to get hold of a nifty workaround that should help you fix the “App Is Damaged and Can’t Be Opened” error on your Mac. So without further ado, let’s check it out.
How to Fix “App Is Damaged and Can’t Be Opened” on Mac
In order to recitfy this issue, all you need to do is execute a single line of command, as instructed below.
- Head over to Launchpad > Others > Terminal.
- Then type in the below command and hit Enter:
sudo xattr -cr "/Applications/app-name.app"
- Make sure to replace app name from the aforementioned command accordingly.
- It will now ask you to enter your password. So type it and then hit Enter.
- Finally, launch the concerned app and it should work without any issues.
That’s it. This should fix the “App Is Damaged and Can’t Be Opened” error on Mac. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.
App Is Damaged and Can’t Be Opened: Not Anymore!
It’s along the obvious lines that the inability to open the app could definitely prove to be quite an infuriating experience. More so if the OS is giving out a false notification that the app has been damaged when infact there’s nothing wrong with the app in the first place. Due to this false alert, many users end up debugging the app, searching for its older versions, or even getting in touch with the developers to chalk out the best route forward.
However, all of this might prove to be futile because the app is infact working well and good and the issue lies with the OS itself. Fortunately, now that we are aware of the underlying root cause of this bug and have managed to catch the culprit, it becomes quite an easy task to lay down the fix. In this regard, all you need to do is execute the sudo xattr -cr “/Applications/app-name.app” command [replace app-name accordingly] and your task stands complete.
