Apple Asks Devs to Submit macOS Catalina Apps to Mac App Store, Reminds About Notarization Requirements

Ahead of the launch of macOS Catalina, which Apple says will "soon be available," Apple is asking developers to submit Mac apps compatible with Catalina to the Mac App Store.

Apple encourages developers to take advantage of macOS Catalina technologies like Sign in with Apple, Sidecar, Core ML 3, and Metal. Apple also highlights Mac Catalyst, designed to bring iPad apps to the Mac.

macOS Catalina will soon be available to hundreds of millions of users around the world. With macOS Catalina, your Mac apps can take advantage of Sign in with Apple, Sidecar, and the latest advances in Core ML 3, and Metal. And with Mac Catalyst, you can bring your iPad apps to Mac. Build your apps using Xcode 11, test them on a Mac computer running the macOS Catalina GM seed, and submit them for review.

Separately, for apps that are designed to be distributed outside of the ‌Mac App Store‌, Apple has reminded developers of a new notarization requirement.

Apple is requiring apps that are distributed outside of the ‌Mac App Store‌ to be notarized by Apple to run on macOS Catalina. First introduced in macOS Mojave, the notarization process is aimed at protecting Mac users from malicious and harmful apps.

To further protect users on macOS Catalina, we're working with developers to make sure all software, whether distributed on the App Store or outside of it, is signed or notarized by Apple. This will give users more confidence that the software they download and run, no matter where they get it from, has been checked for known security issues.

In June, we announced that all Mac software distributed outside the Mac App Store must be notarized by Apple in order to run by default on macOS Catalina. Make sure to test all versions of your software on the macOS Catalina GM seed and submit it to Apple to be notarized.

For notarization, Apple offers trusted non ‌Mac App Store‌ developers Developer IDs that are required to allow the Gatekeeper function on macOS to install non ‌Mac App Store‌ apps.

Notarization is not required for apps that are distributed through the ‌Mac App Store‌, and Apple recently relaxed its notarization rules, giving developers until January 2020 to comply.

Apple today released the golden master version of macOS Catalina to developers, which represents the final version of the software that will be provided to the public.

It's still not known when macOS Catalina will launch, but it could be as early as tomorrow based on previously leaked info from Apple's Danish site.