A couple of weeks ago, I was troubleshooting an app that wouldn’t open on my Mac, and I tried to download a version of it from the developer’s website to replace it. I downloaded it with no problem, but when I tried to open the .dmg, I got the message: “[App I tried to open] can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.”
Well, that’s a bummer. I figured there must be a way around this, and there is. (I’m running 10.9 on my home computer, by the way, but this should be applicable from at least 10.8 on.)
- Open System Preferences
- Click on Security & Privacy
- Select General
- Click the lock to make changes (if applicable; you’ll need to type an admin’s username and password)
- Under “Allow applications downloaded from:” select Anywhere
That option is not checked by default, so by changing it, you’ll be able to open apps you’ve downloaded going forward. Just make sure they’re from a trusted source!