I’ve discussed LibreWolf several times on this blog (and my old blog). The quick rundown goes like this: privacy on the internet is a routine, not a quest to be conquered, and LibreWolf is an important tool to have in your privacy kit.

On the Mac, LibreWolf can be downloaded directly as an App (a .dmg file that you need to install: double-click, then go to your security settings to open it after you get the warning) or through Homebrew.

The Homebrew approach is better in my opinion because it can be automated, and you probably want to check for updates for your browsers at least once a month or so. But there’s a problem: macOS will tell you “LibreWolf is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.”

As it turns out, this is a misleading message. As the folks behind LibreWolf explain:

This happens because we do not notarize the macOS version of the browser: we don’t have a paid Apple Developer license and we don’t want to support this signing mechanism that is put behind a paywall without providing significant gains.

So, Apple does not recognize the app, which means the built-in security measures on your Mac see LibreWolf it as a threat and flag it with a default (and wrong) error message.

I think it would be a good idea to pay for that license, just so that less savvy tech users won’t be scared of installing a good browser for their online hygiene, but I have no idea how much that costs. I just know this is a pain point for many developers, and I can understand how developers who are mostly Linux-oriented do not want to pay Apple’s fees. But I digress.

There is a manual solution to bypass macOS quarantine for such apps. For LibreWolf, in the terminal, enter the following: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/LibreWolf (assuming the application is installed under the Application folder).

Since this is mostly a Homebrew problem (if you manually install LibreWolf each time, you probably just allow it from the Mac’s System’s Settings), there’s also a Homebrew solution: brew install librewolf --no-quarantine or, if you already installed LibreWolf (as part of a routine brew upgrade for example), use brew reinstall librewolf --no-quarantine.

This will work for other apps with a similar problem, just be mindful what you’re letting out of quarantine of course.