How We Verify
Every app on OpenMacApps passed the same checks before it was listed. This page explains them, with examples from the catalog.
We read the license file.
Before an app is listed, we open its license file and read it. We don’t take the license GitHub detects, a directory’s label or a README badge. The listing names the license, links the exact file we read, and keeps a copy of its text.
An app stays out if it has no license file, if its README and license file disagree, or if its license is not on our reviewed list.
GitHub’s license field is a hint.
GitHub matches a repository’s license file against known licenses. When it can’t name a match, it reports NOASSERTION. On November 6, 2026, GitHub’s API named no license for 112 of the apps listed here: 104 showed NOASSERTION and 8 showed none. The files themselves are clear:
| App | GitHub says | The license file says |
|---|---|---|
| Rectangle | NOASSERTION | MIT, with the copyright notice of Spectacle, the app it is based on |
| CotEditor | NOASSERTION | Apache-2.0 for the source code, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 for the image resources |
| HandBrake | NOASSERTION | GPLv2 for compiled builds; some files are under GPLv2+, LGPLv2.1+ or BSD-style terms |
The 14 source-available apps listed on that date were all among them. We never turn a missing match into a guessed license: we read the file, or the app stays out.
Source available is a separate label.
Some apps publish their code under terms that limit what you can do with it: no selling, no commercial use, no competing products, or a wait before an open license applies. These terms don’t meet the Open Source Definition, so we label these apps Source available. 32 apps carry the label, among them Pearcleaner (Apache-2.0 with Commons Clause), Mos (CC BY-NC 4.0), GitButler (FSL-1.1-MIT) and Mac Mouse Fix (its own license).
The label is shown in orange under the Get button, and each of these app pages explains the restriction. They are never counted as open source.
Downloads come from the project.
The Get button links to the download the project itself publishes. Of the apps listed today, 1,653 link to GitHub, 27 to the Mac App Store, and 208 to the download page the project points to, usually its own website. We don’t host, mirror or repackage installers, and we don’t link to download sites. A Homebrew command is shown only when the cask downloads from the app’s own repository or website.
We also leave out apps whose official download is not built from the open code. Rockxy and Tracexy publish AGPL source, but their official disk images ship under a proprietary license.
Every listing has a check date.
Each app page shows, under Verified, the date we last checked its license, source and download. The current listings were checked between October 17, 2026 and November 6, 2026. If a project changes its license, we review the listing again.
The date records our review. It is not a security audit, and we don’t install every app.
Where the apps come from.
We started from 11 community lists of Mac apps. On November 6, 2026, they linked to 2,842 GitHub repositories. Homebrew’s install data added 382 more leads. A lead is only listed after it passes the checks above. More than 1,000 apps are listed so far.
The research notes list every source and every app we left out, with the reason.
Found a mistake?
Every listing is a folder in a public repository. Report a wrong license, a broken or unofficial download or a moved repository with the listing problem form, or open a pull request. Corrections from an app’s maintainers are applied first.
Report a Listing Problem