Dec 12, 2019 If your Mac is lost or stolen If your Mac goes missing, these steps might help you find it and protect your information. The Find My app combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends into a single app for iOS 13, iPadOS, and macOS Catalina. If you need help finding it, use Search on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, or use Spotlight on your Mac. Apps do not get placed in the dock when you download them from the Mac app store. They do get placed in Launchpad - so if you don't see them (especially after searching by name), then some sort of problem or corruption has arrived on your Mac. From within the program, click the 'Open Apple Install Discs' button to load the OS X installation DVD and you should see a list of the available packages that will be installed on the system in a. Apr 16, 2020 “I accidentally lost my applications folder from Finder sidebar as well as the icon on the dock. And I can’t find the Applications folder on Mac now. I’m running macOS Sierra on my MacBook Pro. Is there anyone who knows how to get it back? Thank you!” —— A Question from Apple Communities.
Now there's an app for every media type
- Switch to the previous app and hide the current app: Option-click the current app’s icon. Switch to another app and hide all other apps: Option-Command-click the icon of the app you want to switch to. You can Control-click an item to display a shortcut menu of other actions to take, such as open or close an app, open a recent document, and more.
- Nov 15, 2019 With macOS Catalina, your iTunes media library is now available in the Apple Music app, Apple TV app, Apple Books app, and Apple Podcasts app. And Finder is where you can manage and sync content on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
With macOS Catalina, your music, videos, podcasts, and audiobooks are organized in to their own dedicated apps — the Apple Music app, Apple TV app, Apple Podcasts app, and Apple Books app. You can also access your iTunes Store purchases in these apps.
If you have a PC, you can continue to use iTunes for Windows to manage your media library, make purchases, and manually sync and manage your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Use Finder to sync and manage your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Finder is the new place to back up, update, or restore your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Just connect your device to your Mac and it appears in the Finder sidebar. And you can easily drag and drop files to your device.
Use Finder to manage your devices.
Upgrade your iTunes library
After you update to macOS Catalina, just open the Apple Music app or Apple TV app to use your iTunes library in the new apps. Have multiple iTunes libraries? Learn how to switch between them in macOS Catalina.
If you open the Apple Podcasts app or Apple Books app first, you won't see any of your media until you open the Apple Music app or Apple TV app.
Here are some things to know
- The Apple Music app and Apple TV app read the contents of your iTunes library — so don't delete your iTunes library.
- If you open the Apple Music app and don't see all of your album artwork, leave the Apple Music app open so your album artwork can finish downloading.
- If you previously used multiple iTunes libraries, your audiobooks are imported in to the Apple Books library and podcasts are imported in to the Apple Podcasts library on your computer.
Where's my media?
Here's where you can find your entire media collection, access your iTunes Store purchases, and synced libraries.
All of your music is now in the Apple Music app
The Apple Music app is where you can find all of your music, including music that you imported in to iTunes, purchased from the iTunes Store, and playlists and smart playlists that you created in iTunes. And if you subscribe to Apple Music, you can stream and download millions of songs, and access your entire music library across all of your devices.
Explore the Apple Music app.
Looking for the iTunes Store?
If you don't see the iTunes Store in the sidebar, here's how to find it:
- Open the Apple Music app.
- In the menu bar, choose Music > Preferences.
- Go to the General tab and select iTunes Store.
- Click OK.
Everything you watch is now in the Apple TV app
The Apple TV app is the new home for all of your movies, TV shows, and home videos — including your purchases from iTunes. Browse movies and TV shows that you can buy, rent movies, and subscribe to just the channels that you want to watch. And soon you can discover new favorites with Apple TV+.
Discover the Apple TV app.
Find podcasts in the Apple Podcasts app
Find all of the shows that you’ve subscribed to or added to iTunes in the Apple Podcasts app. Continue listening to your favorite podcast episodes. And discover new shows that you might like based on the ones that you’re already listening to.
Listen with the Apple Podcasts app.
Listen to audiobooks in the Apple Books app
Find your audiobooks, including the ones that you purchased from iTunes, in the Apple Books app. Discover new books to read in the Book Store. Or buy audiobooks from the new Audiobook Store so you can listen on the go.
Check out the Apple Books app.
The Apple Music app, Apple TV app, Apple Podcast app, and Apple Books app aren’t available in all countries and regions. Learn what’s available in your country or region.
One of the best things about a Mac is the range of free apps that come pre-installed. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t download and install other applications from time to time. It should be easy — like most Apple tasks — but that isn’t always the case. This post explains what you can do if your Mac won’t install apps.
Contents
- 10 How to fix app problems in macOS Catalina
Related:
Quick Tips
Try out these quick tips to update or install new apps on your Mac, or read the full post for more details:
- After trying to open a new app, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy to allow it.
- Update macOS and reboot your Mac to resolve all manner of related problems.
- Delete the app from your Mac and install it again from scratch.
- Temporarily turn off your firewall from System Preferences > Security & Privacy.
Common error messages when installing Mac apps
When trying to download or update apps, you might get one of the following messages:
- “App can’t be opened because it is not from the App Store.”
- “App failed to download. Use the Purchases page to try again.”
- “The application could not be downloaded. The installation could not be started.”
If this, or something similar, has happened to you, we have the solution below. But first, let’s make sure you’ve got the basic requirements to install an app.
What do you need to install apps on a Mac?
In order to download, install, or update an app on your Mac you will need the following three things:
- a good Internet connection
- ample free storage
- an administrator password.
Check your Internet connection by streaming a video online. If the video is slow to load, contact your Internet service provider for assistance.
Check your storage by clicking the button in the menu bar and selecting About This Mac > Storage. Ensure you have at least as much space as recommended by the app developer. Preferably a bit more.
You’ll often need an administrator password to complete the installation of an app. If need be, ask the administrator to log on and install the app themselves. Otherwise, they may need to enter their password when prompted from your account.
How do I open apps that aren’t from the App Store?
Mac Book Pro Lost My Apps Free
Macs benefit from a lot of in-built safety precautions, but when downloading third-party apps they can sometimes appear overzealous. By default, your Mac won’t install apps from anywhere other than the App Store, although this is easy to bypass.
After downloading an app, control-click the file in your Downloads folder and select Open from the menu. You’ll get the same ‘unidentified developer’ warning as before, but this time you’ll have the option to open the app anyway.
You can reduce the frequency of these alerts by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. Click the padlock and enter your administrator password to unlock the settings, then choose to “Allow apps downloaded from: App Store and identified developers.”
Update macOS and reboot your Mac to reduce issues
Update macOS to the latest version, unless it isn’t compatible with the app you’re trying to use. Developers typically list the recommended operating software wherever you download the app from.
Check for updates in macOS by clicking the button in the menu bar and selecting About This Mac > Software Update.
A reboot of your Mac is another effective troubleshooting tool. Shut down your Mac using the button in the menu bar, and leave it powered off for a minute or so before powering on again. After doing so — and allowing all the background processes to close down and start again properly — your Mac is likely to run with fewer issues.
Delete the app and then try to install it again.
Before deleting any apps from your Mac you should make sure you have a recent backup of all your valuable data.
It could be that the app, or the app installer, has become corrupt and this is why your Mac won’t install or update it. The only remedy for this is to remove the app from your machine entirely and download it again from scratch.
Close down any version of the app if it is currently running on your Mac by using the Quit [App] button in the menu bar. Then open Finder and go to the Applications folder, find the relevant app and drag it to the Trash.
You should check the Application folders for individual users on your Mac. This can be done by navigating from your Hard Drive > Users > [User Name] > Applications.
Empty the Trash, then restart your Mac and download the app again.
Temporarily turn off the firewall on your Mac.
The firewall does a great job of keeping your Mac safe, but it can sometimes get in the way of installing or updating other apps. You can turn it off in the System Preferences, but you should remember to turn it on again after so your Mac is not left vulnerable.
Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Firewall. Click the padlock and enter your administrator password to unlock the settings, then click the Turn Off Firewall button.
You should also turn off any antivirus software, as this may also be interfering with app installations.
After your app installation or update is complete, remember to turn your firewall and antivirus software on again.
Restore your Mac to its factory settings.
This is something of a nuclear option, but it’s there if you want it.
If, after all the other steps listed above, you still can’t get your Mac to install or update apps, a complete factory restore may offer the solution. Doing so will erase all your data and reinstall the macOS, so ensure you have a backup first.
You should also be aware that the entire process can take quite a long time, upwards of six hours depending on your internet speed and how much data you have.
Problems with updating your apps
Recently, Mac users have experienced a new problem in the latest version of macOS Mojave. In this problem, users can’t update their stock apps such as Keynote or Pages. They need to click an accept button in their account, but that accept button doesn’t exist!
This doesn’t happen to everyone: some users can find the accept button without any problems. But if yours is missing, you can still update the app by deleting it from your Mac and downloading a fresh copy from the App Store.
The easiest way to delete an app is to move it to the Trash from the Application folder in Finder. Then it might be worth restarting your Mac before you download the app from the App Store again. And once you do, you’ll have the recently-updated version of it.
How to fix app problems in macOS Catalina
Macbook Pro Lost My Apps Windows 10
What to do if you can’t approve new apps in macOS Catalina
Another beta problem in macOS Catalina is the inability to approve new apps from the Security & Privacy System Preferences. We explained one way to do this above, but lots of users running the beta version of macOS Catalina have found it doesn’t work.
It seems the solution is to disable Gatekeeper temporarily while you install the new app. We strongly advise you to turn it on again afterward. You can do this by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy, click to padlock and enter your administrator password to unlock it. Under Allow apps downloaded from: select Anywhere.
If there is no Anywhere option, open Terminal and enter the following command line:
Restart System Preferences and you should see the Anywhere option. You can undo this at any time using the command line:
Make sure you enable Gatekeeper again after installing your app, or you will leave your Mac vulnerable to attack!
What to do if you can’t update or sign in to the Mac App Store
If you’ve been test-driving macOS Catalina through Apple’s Beta Software Program, you might have experienced problems using the App Store on your Mac. Lot’s of users are unable to update or download new apps because the App Store doesn’t let them log in.
Despite entering the correct Apple ID username and password, the Mac App Store still appears as though they aren’t logged in. If this has happened to you, try the following user suggestions to resolve it:
- Sign out of your Apple ID from System Preferences > Apple Account.
- Sign out of Apple Music by going to Account > Sign Out from the menu bar.
- Try downloading the apps or updates from a different user account.
- Update macOS Catalina to the latest beta version, or revert to a stable public release of macOS Mojave.
We hope one of those tips let you install and update apps without any more issues. Leave a comment below to tell us which trick worked for you! Or if you’re still having trouble, reach out to Apple directly and tell us what they say so we can help more readers.
Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.
He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.
Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.