Mac – How to safely install applications which aren’t distributed via the Mac App Store

mac-appstore

To keep things simple, I'd like to only install apps from the official AppStore. But, I'm frequently finding that the apps that I need are not on the AppStore such as Gradle, Carbon Copy Cloner, and Android Studio. It is what it is, and I install them, but what's the deal?

Can somebody explain to me why some applications are distributed outside of the store and how I as a user can still install them safely?

Best Answer

There can be many reasons for app developers to stay away from the App Store. For example:

  • Wanting to avoid paying fees/percentages to Apple
  • App has functionality not possible in the App Store due to its sandboxing requirement or Apple's review guidelines
  • Not wanting to spend time on getting in the App Store (usually for programs that have been on the market long before the App Store was a thing)

Checksums is definitely a very common way of validating downloaded files. Combined with a cryptographically secure certificate of authenticity for the checksum, and you can have a certain degree of trust in that the downloaded file originates from the app developer and is not tampered with by third parties.

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