RENPY apps are tricky on MAC. Here is the solution how to launch it.
Force remove the quarantine flag manually
- Open Terminal (Press ⌘ + Space → type “Terminal” and hit Enter)
- In the Terminal window, type (but don’t press Enter yet):
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine
This command removes the "quarantine" flag from the app and all its internal files.
- Now drag and drop your
.appgame file into the Terminal window — this will automatically insert the full path to the app, so your full command might look like this:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Users/yourusername/Desktop/LWT.app
- Then hit Enter to run the command.
This step removes the macOS quarantine status, which sometimes blocks the app from running properly — especially if it was downloaded from the internet and macOS can’t verify it.
Why does this happen?
Apple introduced a notarization system — apps must be approved and digitally signed with a developer certificate.
Games made with Ren'Py (or other indie projects) often don’t have this, but that doesn’t mean they’re dangerous — they just haven’t gone through Apple’s verification process.