What the message means
The dialog usually says the app is damaged and should be moved to the Trash. On the machines I set up, that sentence is often Gatekeeper reacting to a quarantine flag, not a file with missing bytes. Treating every warning as a corrupt download wastes a morning. Ignoring every warning is how a bad disk image gets installed.
I split the cases. If the app came from the developer’s own disk image and the version matches the note on this site, I clear the flag and open it once. If the file size is wildly off, or the version is one I have never listed, I stop.
The click path
On Sonoma and Sequoia the path is the same shape. Names move a little between releases. I write it this way in the cheat sheet:
- Move the app to the Applications folder. Do not run it from the disk image.
- Try to open it. If the warning appears, click Done. Do not move it to the Trash yet.
- Open System Settings, then Privacy and Security.
- Near the bottom, look for the line that names the app. Choose Open Anyway.
- Confirm. The app should launch. Quit it and launch it from Applications a second time, so you know the first open was not a fluke.
On an older macOS the same choice sometimes sits in the Security pane of System Preferences, still under the General tab, still easy to miss if you scroll too fast. I stay on the call until the person has seen the app’s own window, not just the settings screen.
When I refuse to continue
I do not use Open Anyway when any of these are true:
- The download is smaller than the size on the catalog card by more than a rounding error.
- The disk image asked for an admin password before showing the app.
- Someone forwarded the file in Slack and nobody can say which page it came from.
- Gatekeeper’s wording is about malware, not about an unidentified developer.
In those cases the next step is a fresh download from the button on the program page, not a Terminal command copied from a forum. I will not put a bypass on a client image to save ten minutes.
How I update a pinned app
A pin in Favorites means the app earned a place. It does not mean every update is welcome. When a card says Updated, I read the note first. If the path a person follows is unchanged, I can wait. If the note says a preset file or a file format changed, I test the four-file folder on my own Mac, then I update one client machine, then the rest.
I replace the app in Applications. I do not keep two versions side by side unless the old one is still required for a job that is mid-flight. Two icons with the same name is how the Friday file gets made in the wrong build.
If the download itself is wrong
Try the other mirror on the install dialog before you blame the Mac. Apple Silicon and Intel are separate files on purpose. A front-desk iMac will reject a disk image that only contains the Apple Silicon build, and the warning can look like damage when it is simply the wrong file.
If both mirrors disagree with the size on the card, stop and email me the program page. I would rather pull a link than have five studios install a bad build because the button still looked official.