Bypass Gatekeeper in Mac OS X Apps without a Mac Developer Membership

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Scenario

I want to release an app for Mac OS X, but not on the AppStore. The app runs on 10.6 - 10.8 and up.

Problem

Apple requires all apps for Mac OS X 10.8+ to be signed by the developer to get past Gatekeeper. And unless I tell each user to temporarily disable and re-enable gatekeeper just for my app, according to this document and the Mountain Lion change log... my app won't be allowed to run.

From the wording on Apple's website, it sounds like I'll have to pay the $99.00 a year for the certificate. However, I do not want to pay the $99 - I'm not publishing to the AppStore!

Question

Is there any way I can get around paying the $99 for distribution on 10.8+? I know my app will work on 10.6 and 10.7, but according to Apple it won't be allowed to run on 10.8 without the certificate. Is that true? How can I distribute on 10.8+ (preferably a DMG) without a $99 distribution certificate? Thanks in advance!

Edit #1

  • DMG files are not authenticated by Gatekepper, only the app itself is.
  • OS X Lion 10.7.5+ also has Gatekeeper * angry face *
2 Answers

You don't need to purchase membership. Just get a code signing certificate from any agency and sign your app with it. Then it will bypass the Gatekeeper check. Gatekeeper only checks whether the app is from identified developer or not.

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