How to Open a Blocked App on macOS

If you see a message that a macOS app cannot be opened, it usually means macOS added a security check to that download. Apple does this to make you pause before opening apps that came from the internet.

This is often called an app being blocked by Apple, but in many cases it simply means the app is new, not yet recognized on that Mac, or still marked with a quarantine flag after download.

If you trust the app and downloaded it from the source you intended, the steps below show how to open a blocked app on macOS.

Terminal is a built-in macOS app where you can type commands. You need to open Terminal before you can run the command that removes the quarantine flag from the app.

• Open Finder, then go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
• Or press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search, type Terminal, and press Enter.

Paste this command into Terminal. Replace App Name.app with the real name of the app you want to open.

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/App Name.app"

For example, if the app is named Sample Tool.app, that part of the command should match the exact name shown in Finder.

The first example uses /Applications/App Name.app because that is where many Mac apps are stored after installation.

If your app is somewhere else, replace that part of the command with the real location of the app.

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/path/to/App Name.app"

This second example shows the same command with a different path. The important part is that the quoted path matches where the app actually lives on your Mac.

1. 1Press Enter to run the command.
2. 2Wait for Terminal to finish.
3. 3Open the app again.

If the command works, Terminal may not show much output. That is normal.

This is the normal flow for how to open blocked app on Mac: run the command, let Terminal finish, then try opening the app again.