Allow Apps Downloaded From Anywhere Mac Sierra 10.12
Mac Allow All Apps
Allow Apps Downloaded From Anywhere Mac Sierra Mac
Allow Apps Downloaded From Anywhere Mac Sierra 10.13

macOS High Sierra is a great update and brings lots of new and much needed improvements but that doesn’t mean that some of the changes can’t be annoying.

For example, just like in macOS Sierra, one of the changes that Gatekeeper comes with is that there’s no immediate way to allow unsigned apps to open.

Sudo spctl –master-disable. Hit return and authenticate with an admin password. Relaunch System Preferences and go to “Security & Privacy” and the “General” tab. You will now see the “Anywhere” option under ‘Allow apps downloaded from:’ Gatekeeper options.

Up until now, Gatekeeper also allowed you to open apps downloaded from “Anywhere” but that’s no longer the case. Of course you can still open unsigned apps, but it’s a pain in the ass.

Let’s say you want to open a free app like Audacity. Open it and you will get this pop-up…

Ok, nothing new here. This was present in previous OS X version too. However, in previous versions you always had the option to set OS X and allow unsigned apps from “Anywhere”.

If you go to System Preferences Security & Privacy and click on the General tab, you will see only two options for Allow apps downloaded from: App Store or App Store and identified developers. If you’ve enabled the “Anywhere” option by using the Terminal command above and later want to reverse it, you can head back to Terminal and run this command: $ sudo spctl -master-enable. This command reverses the spctl -master-disable command that you ran to set Gatekeeper’s “Allow app downloads from” setting to “Anywhere.”. Dec 12, 2016 Verfiy that “Allow apps downloaded from:” now shows “Anywhere” as an option Now, you are able to install and open apps downloaded from anywhere under macOS Sierra. Using this command turns Gatekeeper off and allows apps from anywhere including unidentified developers.

In macOS High Sierra that option is missing and, you will always have to go to System Preferences>Security & Privacy> and click on a new button that says “Open Anyway”.

Luckily there’s an easy fix for this:
1. Open up Terminal, type “sudo spctl –master-disable”( no quotes ), and hit enter ( NOTE: you might not be able to copy – paste the command in the terminal. See the screenshot below to make sure you enter it correctly )

2. Type in your password ( you won’t be able to see what you’re typing ), and hit enter

3. You’re done.

Now you can go to Preferences>Security & Privacy and choose “Anywhere”

NOTE: if you want, for some reason, to go back to the way macOS High Sierra wants it all you have to do is repeat all the steps above but instead of “disable” change it to “enable”. ( i.e. “sudo spctl –master-enable” )

Allow Apps Downloaded From Anywhere Mac Sierra 10.12

It appears that Apple have removed the ability to enable Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere from within System Preferences.

Fortunately, it’s easy enough to enable with 1 line in a terminal window. This line will enable and set the Allow apps downloaded from: preference to Anywhere.

Mac Allow All Apps

Allow Apps Downloaded From Anywhere Mac Sierra Mac

Once you’ve run the command, close down System Preferences and then open it up again.

Allow Apps Downloaded From Anywhere Mac Sierra 10.13

Please note that if you change your preference back to App Store or App Store and identified developers, the Anywhere option will disappear and you’ll need to run this command again.