About Code Signing

Code signing is a macOS security technology that you use to certify that an app was created by you. Once an app is signed, the system can detect any change to the app—whether the change is introduced accidentally or by malicious code.

You participate in code signing as a developer when you obtain a signing identity and apply your signature to apps that you ship. A certificate authority (often Apple) vouches for your signing identity.

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Benefits of Code Signing

After installing a new version of a code-signed app, a user is not bothered with alerts asking again for permission to access the keychain or similar resources. As long as the new version uses the same digital signature, macOS can treat the new app exactly as it treated the previous one.

Other macOS security features, such as App Sandbox and parental controls, also depend on code signing. Specifically, code signing allows the operating system to:

Limitations of Code Signing

Code signing is one component of a complete security solution, working in concert with other technologies and techniques. It does not address every possible security issue. For example, code signing does not:

See Also

Read Security Overview to understand the place of code signing in the macOS security picture.

For descriptions of the command-line tools for performing code signing, see the codesign and csreq man pages.