When you develop a macOS application and distribute it outside the Mac App Store, users will often see a security warning the first time they try to open it. This happens because Gatekeeper cannot identify the application’s developer, so the app is treated as untrusted.
While there are workarounds to bypass Gatekeeper, they require users to go through multiple manual and advanced steps, resulting in a poor user experience.
As the title suggests, removing this system warning involves two main steps:
- Code signing (using a Developer ID Application certificate)
- Notarization (submitting the app to Apple for automated security checks)