By default, your Mac is set to block you from opening apps that haven’t been verified by Gatekeeper. This includes both apps that aren’t from the Apple App Store and those that come from unidentified developers.

It’s a good idea to start by first setting your Mac to allow you to open apps that aren’t from the App Store.

Setting your Mac to open apps not from App Store

By setting your Mac to open apps that aren’t from the App Store, you reduce the number of warnings you’ll get when opening third-party applications. This makes it much easier to open these kinds of apps.

Here’s how to change your Mac settings to allow apps from third-party locations:

1. Launch Terminal by going to Finder > Applications > Utilities. You can also locate it with Spotlight search by pressing Command-Space.

2. In Terminal, type the command: sudo spctl –master-disable, and hit Return. Enter your Mac’s password when prompted.

3. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see Allow apps to be downloaded from with automatically selected Anywhere.

If you later decide that you’d like to return to your Mac’s default settings and no longer allow apps to be downloaded from anywhere, just follow these steps:

1. Launch Terminal.

2. Then, enter the command sudo spctl –master-enable.

By doing that, you’ll no longer be able to select Anywhere. So after it’s done, you will only be allowed to download apps from the App Store unless you use the steps mentioned above to access apps from other locations.