Mac Developers Reminded to Have Their Apps Notarized as Apple Tightens Security

[goobot]

I believe the ones with no alerts are having to pay Apple for the privilege.

Do you know where this is said? I'm genuinely interested because I was under the assumption that it was free. I don't have a problem with gatekeeper if I can just right click and open it anyway. If apple is charging for this then I think they should have a non-terminal way to turn it off though.

 

[jecowa]

Do you know where this is said? I'm genuinely interested because I was under the assumption that it was free. I don't have a problem with gatekeeper if I can just right click and open it anyway. If apple is charging for this then I think they should have a non-terminal way to turn it off though.

I might be wrong, but I believe creating signed applications requires a 99$-per-year developer account. I don't know the details very well, but it's causing problems for some free applications. I'm worried Mac OS is about to become as locked down as iOS.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

What's the over/under on how long until the MacOS will be as locked down as iOS?

 

[rom3o]

I see no real benefit for Apple doing that.

You don't consider money a real benefit?

 

[TechGod]

Get an iPad and be done with it. The rest of us have real work to get done.

The iPad is not a toy.

 

[robbyx]

I see no real benefit for Apple doing that.

But they are doing already. Each year the Mac and macOS become a bit more locked down. So far Apple hasn’t gone for a full iOS-style lockdown, but I don’t think that day is too far off. Apple wouldn’t be adding all kinds of security features, both hardware and software, if they intend for the Mac to remain a more open platform.

 

[badatusernames]

But they are doing already. Each year the Mac and macOS become a bit more locked down. So far Apple hasn’t gone for a full iOS-style lockdown, but I don’t think that day is too far off. Apple wouldn’t be adding all kinds of security features, both hardware and software, if they intend for the Mac to remain a more open platform.

If I recall correctly those security features can be turned off or bypassed. For example, with GateKeeper you can still choose to install applications made by an unidentified developer, you can also turn of System Integrity Protection.

My point is while Apple has added more security features that have made the OS less open all if not most of the those features can be disabled or bypassed by a user if they want to do so.

I believe once the Mac continues to be a development platform Apple won’t lock it down like iOS.

 

[opeter]

Apple isn't controlling what users can install their Macs.

Right now, yes, that is true. But in the future, who knows?

The iOS environment is already controlled and they want to do the same (slowly) with macOS.

 

[badatusernames]

You don't consider money a real benefit?

What financial benefit would gain by doing that? I don’t believe Apple is adding these features to make macOS less open like iOS. I believe they are adding them to make macOS more secure like iOS. A feature like GateKeeper which is on by default helps protect the average consumer from installing apps that might be harmful to their computer. If they would like to turn that off they certainly can.

When Apple makes notarization required that simply means that apps that aren’t notarized would be treated like how applications made by a unidentified are treated by the system.

 

[sirexilor]

It's optional for now. I'm worried that will change over the next year or two.

Could it be that Apple is trying to get developers to publish their app in App Store? Because App Store is missing a lot of apps and if I would make an educated guess, ARM Macs can only install apps from App Store, unless you're a developer.

 

[badatusernames]

ARM Macs can only install apps from App Store, unless you're a developer.

Why would that be?

 

[decafjava]

You don’t have too. Can always use Android.

We are discussing actual computers here, not smartphones or tablets.

 

[NightFox]

God, using "app" for Mac applications is a really big pet peeve of mine. Idk why, the word itself just seems so dumb and too simplified. iOS like.

No offense, but this is a request to editors...please use the word "application" for all Mac programs/software. Leave "app" for use related with iOS.

Apple used to call all their Mac "apps" applications on their website and throughout the OS. References to the word "application(s)" is becoming more and more rare, instead "app(s)" is being used more and more often. Really annoying. It may sound weird to you, but it's a niggling pet peeve of mine.

Yeah, when I read “app” I automatically assume we’re talking about something that runs on a phone/tablet and I guess a few years back that was something very different to an application on a computer. However, these days an app on a portable device can be just as complex as its counterpart running on a full-blown OS, so the shared terminology is probably more justified, though I do think “app” is a bit twee and pushed as a trendy marketing buzzword.

All that said, I still think as the likes of MS Word and Photoshop as “programmes”

 

[aidler]

They don't.

There is nothing stopping developers from selling MacOS apps outside of the App Store. It's the developer's choice.
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They don't either.

People, stop making up non-existing problems.

The App Store is an optional market that developers can freely take or leave.

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"notarization" is an unfortunate, and confusing name. In the U.S. at least, that word refers to having a signed document witnessed and attested by a government-enrolled agent (a Notary Public) who witnesses signatures for a small fee. I've *never* seen the word used in a different context before.

My mother was a Notary Public. I used to play with the embosser when I was a little kid. Shhhhhhh! (Imagine Bart Simpson let loose with a Notary embosser! I didn't do any of the evil things he'd do with it - just stamp random blank sheets of paper.)

Can't techies stop overlaying the common usage of words with their own specialized meanings?

The only problem now is that Apple is not a trustworthy agent in this "notarization" process. Apple has of course its own business interests that do not necessarily align with the interests of a certain developer, Apple has a very special almost Disney like ethical code for what it thinks is suitable for Mac users and Apple is known to cooperate with dictatorships.

 

[rom3o]

What financial benefit would gain by doing that?

Ultimately pushing developers more and more to the App Store has a massive potential for revenues that Apples misses out on today.
You quoted a user that was speaking about ten years from now. While there are options to bypass Gatekeeper now, the direction we are heading for with announced banning of non-notarized apps doesn’t look very liberal. Sure, Apple says today that they only scan vor malware - but how do you know they won´t add some other requirements to that process in the future or even go full App-Store-distribution-only?

This whole developement doesn’t feel good. Restricting freedom under the excuse of security has never been a good decision.

 

[maflynn]

The progression to forcing developers to use the MAS and not allow us consumers to install apps outside the MAS is starting imo.

 

[StellarVixen]

No.


If the day comes that you force me to distrubute my applications via App Store only, that will be the day I leave your platform for good.


Please, do not ruin the Mac OS, it is the only good thing that is left in this world.

 

[nvmls]

The iPad is not a toy.

Yea I tell my kids the same.

 

[Spock]

I would be very hard pressed to stay on the Mac if they eventually did not allow apps outside of the App Store. I know that’s not what they are doing now but it seems to be the direction they are heading. I love the Mac but I don’t want to be locked down. I also think that this will not look good for Apple with the App Store monopoly lawsuit they are getting into.

 

[Stella]

The progression to forcing developers to use the MAS and not allow us consumers to install apps outside the MAS is starting imo.

Every Mac OS release imposes new restrictions ( most of which can be turned off, others cannot ). Its a slow work in progress towards a walled garden.

Apple know full well they can't lock down Mac OS over night, but at some stage, Mac OS will be as locked down as iOS.

 

[jecowa]

What's the over/under on how long until the MacOS will be as locked down as iOS?

Rumor is that Apple will switch to ARM in 2020. This would be a good time for them to make an excuse about locking everything down.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Apple might considering requiring all app developers for Mac who have an iOS app to release their Mac apps only via the Mac App Store.

That would probably be an illegal abuse of monopoly power. The iOS app store is already pretty much a monopoly, and what you describe would be using one monopoly to establish / bolster another. In other words, highly anti-competitive. This is very close to what Microsoft got in trouble for in the 90s.
[doublepost=1544023001][/doublepost]

Rumor is that Apple will switch to ARM in 2020. This would be a good time for them to make an excuse about locking everything down.

Ugh, I agree. This is why I really hope the switch to ARM never happens.

 

[gnasher729]

By default you can't install anything that's not Mac App Store or dev-signed. You have to google how to disable gatekeeper in terminal.

That's not control? A less savvy user is pretty much forced to buy crap from App Store.

If it's not signed by the dev (which doesn't involve Apple except that Apple will know who signed it), then you really shouldn't install it. All it means is that Apple has checked that ABC company exists, and your Mac sees that it is signed by ABC company, and you know it's a real company.
[doublepost=1544023655][/doublepost]

But they are doing already. Each year the Mac and macOS become a bit more locked down. So far Apple hasn’t gone for a full iOS-style lockdown, but I don’t think that day is too far off. Apple wouldn’t be adding all kinds of security features, both hardware and software, if they intend for the Mac to remain a more open platform.

Every year there are more threats, more people wanting to steal your credit card details, more people wanting to read your emails and so on.

 

[Avenged110]

I still can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing... Sure, it helps with security. But I also HATE the idea of Apple controlling literally everything that users are able to install on their computers. I don't think it's Apple's business to control that.

Lol @ everyone complaining about this comment. This is pretty much the definition of a slippery slope, and as it always goes, just because we haven't reached the end of it, these people act as though we never will.

 

[decafjava]

Lol @ everyone complaining about this comment. This is pretty much the definition of a slippery slope, and as it always goes, just because we haven't reached the end of it, these people act as though we never will.

Yup, I don't mind having a Mac App store as long as we can install unsigned apps it's ok by me.