Updates and macOS setup
Premation checks for new versions on its own and asks before doing anything. How that plays out differs by platform during the beta, and the macOS difference is big enough to state plainly rather than bury.
| Automatic updates | First launch | |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | ✅ Prompts you, you approve, it installs | SmartScreen warns once |
| macOS | ❌ Not during the beta — download each release yourself | Gatekeeper blocks it once |
Both differences have the same cause: the beta builds are unsigned. They go away together, without you reinstalling anything, once the builds are signed and notarized.
macOS: opening it the first time
macOS refuses to open an app from an unidentified developer. You will see “Premation can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer” or “Premation is damaged and can’t be opened” — the second wording is alarming and does not mean the download failed; it is what Gatekeeper says about a quarantined unsigned app.
Drag the app to Applications
Open the .dmg and drag Premation into your Applications folder as usual.
Take Premation-macOS-arm64.dmg on Apple silicon (M1 and later) and
Premation-macOS-x64.dmg on Intel. The arm64 build will not run on an Intel
Mac at all.
Open it with the right-click menu, not a double-click
In Applications, right-click (or Control-click) Premation and choose Open. In the dialog that appears, choose Open again.
This is the whole workaround. Double-clicking gives you a dialog with no way through; the right-click route adds an Open button that a double-click does not.
That is it — once
macOS remembers your decision for that copy of the app. Normal double-clicking works from then on.
If macOS says “damaged”, the quarantine flag is the cause. Clearing it explicitly also works:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Premation.appOnly run that on a download you trust and obtained from the official releases page — it is exactly the check you are switching off.
How updates reach you
Premation reads a small metadata file published alongside each release, compares it with the running version, and tells you if there is something newer. Nothing is contacted except the release page — no account, no telemetry, and it keeps working if you self-host or never sign in.
Windows
Automatic. Shortly after the window appears, Premation checks for a newer release. If there is one you get a dialog naming the version, and nothing is downloaded until you say yes.
- Nothing downloads in the background first. A ~150 MB installer arriving unannounced on a tethered connection is not a favour.
- Nothing installs behind you either — closing the window does not apply an update. You choose when.
- A failed check stays quiet. Behind a corporate proxy you get no updates, not a dialog on every launch.
You can also ask at any time: Help ▸ Check for Updates…, which reports “you’re up to date” rather than staying silent.
Turning updates off
Set MOTION_DISABLE_UPDATES=1 in the environment Premation launches from. It
will never check. Useful on a managed fleet, or an offline machine where the
check is only a delay.
Which version am I on?
Premation ▸ About on macOS, Help ▸ About on Windows. The releases page lists what each version changed.
Why the builds are unsigned
Signing a desktop app means buying a certificate from each platform vendor — Apple’s Developer Program for macOS, a code-signing certificate for Windows — and both are annual costs carried before a single user pays anything. During the beta that money is going into the editor instead.
The pipeline is already built for it: the release workflow signs, notarizes and staples automatically the moment the certificates are configured, and publishes clearly-labelled unsigned builds until then. It is a deliberate, dated accommodation rather than something forgotten — and no reinstall will be needed when it changes, beyond the one update that carries the signed build.
Next
- Installing Premation — both editions, building from source, ffmpeg
- First launch — the dashboard and your first project
- System requirements — the GPU is the part that decides whether this works