Is there a simple way to email a 9Mb compiled app to a friend? Gmail prevents it, MacOS prevents the opening of a zip file. Dropbox zips the file, but when unzipped there are many files that baffle me, and certainly the receiver. I just want the receiver to see the app as I see it on my desktop.
Please advise, thank you.
I usually zip things, upload to transfer services as https://www.transfernow.net/ , get the shareable link and send to them.
For macOS, people usually unzip it before using.
Unsigned apps usually wonât work, canât be open if user settings say something like âDonât accept apps from unknown sourcesâ, so your app must be signed/notarized and you should keep an Apple dev$ account ready doing so, or your friend should let it run temporally enabling the âlet âunknownâ apps runâ, not sure about the details.
Carl,
To share your Xojo made app with a friend, youâve got some options.
Learn about Code signing and Notarization. This is Appleâs preferred route, it costs at least $100 a year. In fact even if you develop in Appleâs own tools, youâll still have to pay this fee. I developed a Mac App called âApp Wrapperâ to help you through the actual process, but youâll still need to pay Apple their $100 a year.
Ask your friend to circumnavigate the security restrictions on their Mac so that they can run the app. This is cheaper for you, but your friend SHOULD NOT do this with apps they get off the internet.
It looks like you are talking about a MAC app. You should be able to take the whole bundle, ZIP it, and share it via GoogleDrive, DropBox, pick you poison. It is NOT the recommended way; but if you are not a developer, and donât want to pay Apple any money to make people feel good and for Apple to line their pockets - which should be a non-issue between friends - then here is some reading material.
Desktop app deployment â Xojo documentation
Open a Mac app from an unidentified developer - Apple Support
Many files sound like a windows app.
For that you may consider using Inno Setup or similar to make a small installer file.
Also if you have a lot of friends, you may consider getting a code signing certificate for Windows to sign the app and the installer.
Thereâs also the option to make a disk image (.dmg file) and send it.
Hey hi, you can try using a file sharing service like WeTransfer or Google Drive to send the compiled app to your friend. These services allow you to upload large files and share them via email or a generated link. This should bypass the restrictions of Gmail and macOS, allowing your friend to download the app directly. Hope this helps!
at mac os via iCloud does not work?
if i have to share something i use google drive, one drive or my own NAS.
The OP clearly mentioned MacOS but Windows would be not much different.
Since when?!? 
To zip an App properly on a Mac, do it in the Terminal as
zip -ry myAppZipped.zip ./MyApp.app
I donât have any problems with zip files when I compresss them in the Finder. The resulting zip file downloads just finefrom my website.
Not sure if all macOS versions do it correctly, but some people got apps that got compressed erroneously and broken, and after unzipped they didnât work. The problem was due to symlinks in the app, and zip -ry fix that specific problem.
Greetings all,
I am trying to avoid having the receiver go to the mac security panel and avoid âopen anywayâ. I donât know how to âsignâ the app . I do have an apple dev account, but have not used it (yet). Without the signature the zipped app will not open.
Thanks for your advice, Transfernow.net works great.
It needs your App codesigned and notarized. And even this way a warning will popup, like âthis app was downloaded from the internet, Open?â
Youâll need to pay $100/year to Apple to codesign your apps.
Code signing: I do this with AppWrapper. It can also do other things such as mark the app as having permission to do certain things.
Notarising: I also do this with AppWrapper. If Iâve code-signed it, I can either just zip up the app or put it in a .dmg. Then drop that onto AppWrapper, and it will send it to Apple, who check it for virueses etc. Usually a quick process (less than a minute). Apple also adds to their database the fact that this copy of your app is clean.
When you friend runs the app then it phones home and checks with Apple. All this means that (a) Apple know whose app this is (in case, I suppose, it tries to do bad things) and (b) your friend knows that Apple has checked it for for naughty code.