is damaged and can’t be opened 🍏 macOS

macOS: “App” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

Gatekeeper blocked an app that isn’t properly signed/notarized or was modified after download (quarantine attribute).

Seen on: macOS

Meaning

Common with unsigned open-source apps, apps copied from another Mac or extracted by third-party tools. If you trust the source, removing the quarantine attribute lets it run; developers should sign and notarize.

Common causes

  • App not notarized/signed by the developer
  • Quarantine attribute on a modified or unsigned app
  • Corrupt download
  • Architecture mismatch (rare)

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Download again from the official source
  2. If trusted: remove quarantine with xattr
  3. Developers: sign with Developer ID and notarize

Detailed fix by platform

Shell

  1. xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/MyApp.app"

How to diagnose

  1. Source — Official download?
  2. Signature — codesign -dv --verbose=4 MyApp.app
  3. Gatekeeper — spctl -a -vv MyApp.app

🔧 Still not fixed?

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