(This is a repost of a post I made in r/macapps as I think it would be useful for people here to see it too as this subreddit has also been hit with fake apps.)
To be very clear this is not another post of "Breaking news malware exists on the internet" (or it may be depending on how you want to look at it) but I feel like it's important that I leave a small PSA as I have recently seen an influx of seemingly convincing GitHub repo replicas for decently popular Mac apps. They are so similar that they almost fooled me. Thankfully I quickly spotted some anomalies and I nearly avoided getting infected. Unfortunately these are the sort of red flags I don't expect an average Joe to know about. Which is why I'm explaining what the malware is, and how to spot it.
First of all to give you an idea of how convincing these repos can be i'll show you some examples:
As you can see, they are strikingly similar
Even URLs may look incredibly similar but in this specific case the bad actor exchanged the lower case lls(L) in the name for upercase IIs(i) which made the URL look legit.
Now this may look scary and almost undetectable but with some common sense and slowing down you can very easily avoid these scams.
By far the easiest way to avoid this is to simply look for the app online and track down the original developer. This will let you kill 2 birds with one stone by A: Looking for the original source of the app and avoid impostors and B: See if the App or the developer had any previous reputation to begin with
Either way It's still a good idea to understand how to spot common malware apps on macOS and how to deal with them if you get infected.
The first red flag is that the GitHub profile that hosted the fake file was only 3 days old and completely different from the name of the original developer.
The second discrepancy is that the size of the fake app is ridiculously small. For instance the original app is 13mb in size while the fake one is less than 2mb. Now this is not necessarily a red flag (For example some viruses do the opposite and fill their dmg with a lot of useless data to make the file larger than what VirusTotal can handle.) but it's still important to raise an eye brow for installers with suspiciously small sizes.
The third and MOST IMPORTANT red flag is if the installer asks you to drag the "app" to the terminal that is not a good sign at all. NO LEGITIMATE APP WILL EVER ASK YOU TO DRAG IT TO THE TERMINAL. As you can see the installer is a solid giveaway you are encountering malware and not the real deal.
In fact the file they ask you to drag is not even an app, it's a script.
When you drag the script on the Terminal and execute it, the hidden file is immediately copied to your temp system folder, then the script removes extended attributes to bypass gatekeeper and it finally executes. But from the user's perspective all they get is a blank terminal window as if nothing had happened. (At least in theory, in practice this malware wasn't very well done and gatekeeper was thankfully still able to spot it)
Now if you unfortunately got tricked into running the script, you have some straight forward solutions to verify if macOS was effective at stopping the attack or not. For instance, KnockKnock is a great and simple way to verify for malicious persistency files using VirusTotal's robust detection engine. Malwarebytes is also a good Mac AV which can be quickly installed if you suspect you were affected, it is a bit more tricky to uninstall completely but it does a good job.
Ultimately here's a small recap so you can hopefully avoid getting infected:
Look up the original source of the software to prevent copy cat websites and verify if the software and or the developer has built a reputation in the past.
If you download the installer, scan it with VirustTotal to check if it has been flagged as malware already.
Check the size, while not necessarily a red flag, a small size (for instance less than 2mb), or a size that is "conveniently" larger than what VirusTotal can handle are decent indicators of possible malware.
If the DMG asks you to drag an "App" to the Terminal IMMEDIATELY STOP AND DELETE THE DMG.
If you accidentally ran it, look for a "This app could not be verified" or "This App was removed because it contained malware" message from macOS which could indicate Gatekeeper or Xprotect stopped the attack. Additionally make sure to DENY any permissions the malware may have requested, macOS is very robust in that regard and it can dramatically limit the impact of the attack.
If you are in doubt of whether or not you were infected run the aforementioned tools to verify for the persistency of the malware.
Another app I can recommend is Apparency, it allows you to very quickly see if an app is properly signed by the developer and notarized by apple, and it can even allow you to dissect the contents of an app without running it which is a great way to quickly verify you have a valid untampered app.
This is optional but if you can, report the app to the original developer so they can take action and warn others when the fake app is spread around. Additionally report the Reddit post/GitHub repository if possible.
Thank you for reading this, I hope this helps others be more weary of online threats and stay more vigilant of what they download.
actually, I built a website that users can upload their setups, so that others who want the same monitors and hubs can buy without any worries.
I built this because I've tried to connect oddysey G9 32:9 DUHD monitor with my Macbook pro M3 max, but the screen was totally messed up. I couldn't find any answers on communities. I hope others don't do this shit again.
anyway, you can make and upload your own setup system that you're currently using. I hope you guys upload your setups, so that others who love your setup can trust.
I know that the pipe that references pipelines in computer science (connected data workflows) is only seen in the old icon which is kinda sad but the new one looks kinda cute the way he is holding that.... ehmm... icon? cube? idk. Just think people aren't talking about the automator enough.
in this post, a lot of people gave me really useful feedbacks and their setup data.
Actually, it's my first time to build something in public, and was honestly really worried 😭😭 but there were only useful feedbacks, instead of bad words.
I'm trying my best to improve this website with your feedbacks! and the devices you manually added wiil be replaced with real devices and images.
I'm a college student in south korea, who really loves Mac and monitors. This website will be free to use forever.
(sorry for my bad english, I've tried to write this without GPT)
On my work I use windows, and to have access to my logins I have installed iCloud Passwords extension on chrome. And despite I can access the logins, I am not able to manage them at at.. For example, if I need to update a certain password. I click the Extension > Manage Passwords... options and nothing happens. Anyone knows how to solve?
I reinstalled the ext, I logged out and logged in from iCloud for Windows...
I need some Gantt charts in my life. I want to see my critical projects and grouped dependencies in one view, with different color codes, milestones, etc. It's just me and an assistant (who doesn't need access to the program).
OmniFocus is my task manager - I love Perspectives and it's great for brain-dumping and WBS, but I have an excess of projects, only an handful of which are long-term, with hard milestones - I need to see these on a timeline.
I am a minority Mac user in a Windows organisation with O365 Enterprise. My organization can't do subscriptions/credit card payments - it has to be a one-off purchase.
Options:
a) OmniPlan - OmniPlan 4 Pro would be a no-brainer - but, come on - it costs four times as much as MS Project for the Pro version, and still doesn't even integrate with my OmniFocus without resorting to non-OmniGroup workarounds (see OmniPlanFocusSync on Github). I can't even test the workaround, because it seems I tried a trial version of OmniPlan 5 or so years ago. I wouldn't pay for it personally and would feel a bit crappy asking work to do so if I think it's missing basic functionality.
Question 1: How reliable is the community-donated sync solution above? Can one expect it to keep working in future?
b) MS Project in my work Windows-VM - but I hate powering it up, it's slow.
c) Question 2: MS Planner with Power BI - usable on a day-to-day basis? In my experience all these O365 browser apps have been dreadful - limited functionality, counter-intuitive, unreliable...
c) ProjectLibre - it works (also on silicon Macs, at least on my M1 it does), but I would like something a bit more aesthetic.
So I just got a m4 air 16gb/512gb and I feel like the battery is going down fast than it should. Im draining around 8% and more an hour with just light browsing and word use. It doesn't make the 18 hours battery life they say it should.
Ive heard about indexing and calibrating but I've had this for around 5 days so idk if that's still the issue.
And also I've checked activity monitor and there's nothing up with that and I also have 50% brightness all the time. I use safari for my browsing if that matters a lot and don't rlly play games.
Should I wait a bit longer and see if it improves or is it safe to say something is up? Thanks :)
Is there a way to hold the middle click and drag on a trackpad? I need it to orbit or pan in 3D apps like SketchUp or CAD software. With a mouse, I can just hold the middle button and start orbiting, but on a trackpad, I currently remap my Fn key to the middle mouse button to achieve this. The problem is, I have to use both hands to do it. Ideally, I’d like to remap a three-finger drag to act as a middle-click drag. Right now, three-finger drag is only a left-click drag, and some third-party apps I’ve tried can only simulate a middle click (no drag). Anyone know a workaround?
I keep getting countless and countless notifications from finder and system settings, what tool can suppress or disable these notifications from coming up? thanks
I’ve found this Magic Keyboard 2021 for 50$ on a local sale platform, and I’m wondering if it’s genuine, as the serial number seems too long.
Thanks in advance!
I recently noticed my disk space slowly filling up and after some digging I discovered that Messenger for macOS stores every single file I open (docs, PDFs, images, voice recordings, etc.) in a hidden folder: /Users/<username>/Library/Group Containers/group.com.facebook.Messenger/Library/Application Support/lightspeed-TAMStorage/media_bank/
In my case, this folder had over 8000 files(!) just sitting there. I always wondered where Messenger was keeping these files, and now I know.
I also checked on my girlfriend’s MacBook Air (M4), and the exact same issue occurs there as well — in her case the folder already contains around 1500 files, even though she hasn’t been using Messenger as heavily.
My questions are:
Is it safe to just delete everything in this folder at once?
Is there any way to disable this behavior so Messenger doesn’t keep silently saving copies of every file I open?
I’m genuinely surprised I couldn’t find any Reddit post about this issue (at least not in r/Mac, r/MacOS, or r/facebookmessenger). Has anyone else noticed this, or found a workaround?
I am trying to fix a folder for my lightroom catalogue and I copied the commands to the terminal and it ask me to insert a password but doesn't let me type it in. not sure if I am doing it wrong or what...
This is apparently a bug. If I open a book on Books, enlarge the window to the entirety of the screen, and use forced-press to check definition of a word — upper left and upper right area can’t be pressed and lookup pop-out will never appear. However, if you forced-press in the middle of the window, it’ll work.
There is no reason behind this whatsoever. MacOS is so inconsistent it’s ridiculous. “It just works”? I wanna slap the person who said this.
Changing forced-press to tap with three fingers does not work either. Certain areas of the book page will always be dysfunctional, and usually they are upper left, upper right, lower right and lower left. The middle area usually works.
What’s the solution to this?
I run the Sequoia OS on my MacBook Pro 2018 15-inch.
Help please, I am ripping my hair with this one. I have spoken to an Apple Senior Advisor has no clue.
Can I drag a folder with multiple subs from "iCloud Inbox" and have it reside "On My Mac", and then delete the folers out my "iCloud Inbox?
This past weekend, I decided to clean up my very full iCloud Inbox - regretting this.
I dragged a very large folder called "Retail Receipts" with mulitple sub-folders from my "iCloud Inox" to "On My Mac". I then renamed that large folder on "On My Mac "Purchases-Receipts" and re-arranged some of sub-folders deleting a few older emails. and noticed that now the folder was in now two places; still in my "iCloud Inbox" and now "On My Mac". I deleted old emails from each of the sub-folders of the newly named "Purchases-Receipts" folder. Then I decided to delete the original folder with the multiple sub-folders in the iCloud Inbox as I wanted it permanently removed as it would reside in its new home "On My Mac". Several hours later I went back to "On My Mac" and looked at the recently migrated folder only to find it all empty!%:!
Hi,
I have been trying to download zoom and vlc media player from google. It all downloads fine but once I try to open any of the apps I've downloaded it pops up with an instalation failed notifications and if I press install again nothing happens. I have 2025 Macbook air m4 chip on sequoia 15.6.1 (idk what info is needed).
I have been building and using Windows PC's and laptops for almost 30 years now, so as stated, I am new to MacOS. I recently bought a Mac Mini M4 and I believe the only configuration upgrade I had installed was a bump to 24GB unified memory.
My only use for this Mac will be to stream cycling apps and eventually cast them to a large-screen 4k TV via HDMI; I am currently casting to the screen on my exercise bike (TechnoGym Ride) which has a 22" monitor.
The question I have is at what point in terms of size on a 4k TV will the graphics start to degrade? I am planning on mounting a 55"-60" 4k TV to the wall and placing my bike in front of the TV for an "immersive" riding experience. Will these screens be too large?
The graphics are VERY good on the two apps I use...ROUVY and Zwift. I don't want to buy a 60" TV to only find out that the graphics suck on a screen that large because the graphics card can't handle it.
Any and all advice is GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks!!
I use the Mac version of macOS Sequoia 15.6.1. I updated macOS at the same time as Premiere Pro last night, and now I can't open Premiere Pro. So I don't know what the problem is.
This is a screenshot of Balatro on the title screen, it was really slow. But even in game it was only getting about 19 fps. I also tried factorio at 37fps. Yesterday, they were at straight up smooth levels, maybe 75 or 60. I didn't have exact numbers, but I know that it wasnt 19fps before and mind you Factorio and Balatro are extremely lightweight games. Has anyone encountered this problem and does anyone know a fix?
I know this is the tiniest of the tiny problems, which speaks volumes of how great MacOS is, but it's something that annoys me a bit.
I use my MacBook Pro both in dock mode, and as a laptop, and anytime I do transition between these modes, my wallpaper reverts back to - what I'm assuming is the default one in MacOS Sequoia - the animated one that's in a forest.
Yes, it's a very small problem that doesn't affect my daily workflow in one bit, but I also think it's not unreasonable to expect that my very expensive piece of technology work as I expect it to.
I have a macbook pro m1 that was stuck at big sur mac os and i tired everything to update it and as an idiot i kept following chatgpt instructions and ended up deleting macos and keeping data to try installing macos from bootable USB but it fails and when try to access recovery mode it says "there are no users on this volume to recover mac" so i can't neither access recovery mode or fixing macos please help is there any other way to recover my data.
Things i tried:
-using revive from dfu with apple configurator from another mac but it fails given internet connection as excuse (i used old version of the apple configurator bc my other mac is Monterey but i don't think this is the problem)
-recovery mode giving "there are no users on this volume to recover mac"
-using usb to install macos
-trying back up from dfu
What i want to know:
-anyway to recover my data
-is there a way to boot macos from a usb or something
Recently, I noticed that I can no longer send email from my iCloud custom email domain. It's not a choice anywhere in the Mail app anymore. This use to work fine, and I just noticed it after updating to macOS 15.6.1.
The custom email domain is still configured in iCloud, and when using iCloud on the web it works as expected. My iPhone Mail app also is able to see and send email from my custom email domain as well. This is only an issue with macOS.
I tried a computer restart, I tried turning iCloud mail off and on in my Mac's iCloud settings, and it's still not able to see my custom email domain email address.
Any ideas on what I could try? Is it working for others?
Mac details:
MacBook Pro - 15-inch, 2018 – 2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
MacOS - 15.6.1 (24G90)
Hello everyone! I have a MacBook Air recently bought this year. Is it safe to do on MacBook? Also, please guide which torrent client or software to use? And is VPN necessary? Also some trustworthy torrent sites for the same?
