app won't open

my app won’t open on some of my co-workers computers. 2 people have 2015 iMacs, the app opens on this machine. The other user has a 2015 15" MBP. The app DOES NOT open on this machine. Frustrating. I can’t figure out why it won’t work. I rebuilt the app with 4 buttons, each button runs an applescript to open a folder. What is going on. Is my license out of usefulness?

What does “app won’t open” mean exactly? What happens when you double-click the app?

And no, this isn’t a licensing issue. Either your co-workers’ OS is too old, or you have a bug that has to be tracked down.

double click the app, you get a dialog box that literally says, “APP WONT OPEN”. It seems iMacs like the little app, but the laptop does not.

Can you post a picture of this dialog?

Oh, it could be a code-signing/Gatekeeper issue too. Are you signing your app?

I should have added, if it’s a Gatekeeper issue, you should be able to right-click on the app and choose “Open”. It will ask if you want to bypass the security, and they will only see that dialog once.

Unless they changed their preferences to disallow any unsigned app, that is…

I don’t know what code signing is

There’s not enough information to help you yet. A good start would be to do what Kem asked. It will likely give us more clues than you think.

You asked this a couple of days ago and got the same answers, it appears, but stopped replying there.

Macs are set up to stop applications that don’t come from the App Store, or have code signing.
You can force them to run if you set the preferences on the machine at THEIR end.

Read this page since someone else has done the hard work of taking screenshots:

https://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=25443

Codesigning is for developers who don’t want their users to go through this.
It stamps your app with a unique key that proves it hasnt been tampered with.
To get codesigning you need an Apple developer account, and to pay some money even if your app is free.
Since you are just starting out and not doing this commercially, the link above should get you past this small hurdle.

thanks jeff but how do you explain, the apps opens on some computer and NOT on others. weird

It will open on the computer that created it, or if the app hasn’t been quarantined. Code signing is a whole lot more complicated than Jeff explained, but I feel like he provided you a good very basic explanation of it. You can do the research on code signing and all of it’s intricacies if you’d like to know the answers, but there are many aspects and Apple isn’t very transparent about it.

The easiest solution if you’re releasing something to the public is to use AppWrapper to codesign.
When not releasing to the public the “force it to open” options are also useful.

Still waiting on a picture of that dialog…

That user might have disabled this check
Others might not have

Thats all explained in the link Jeff posted

Nowadays, on the latest versions of MacOS it’s not even possible to disable the check. But there is no “APP WONT OPEN” message box for those computers. It would be even easier if you could let us download your app.

Read up on codesigning.

I’m waiting for my coworker to send me the screenshot. can I zip the project file and anyone try it out.

http://developer.xojo.com/mac-code-signing

sudo spctl --master-disable

no longer works ?

@Normal: I meant the System Preferences.

ah for folks who probably shouldnt disable it anyways - no

the “anywhere” setting is akin to “run around with open scissors pointed at my throat JUST in case I want to”

No, its normal when your app is not signed or from the App Store.
Did you read the article?

“users are unable to install … applications downloaded from the internet or stored on physical media without receiving the error message below:”

Send the article to your users: this is something they need to tweak if your app is of use to them.