Spotify will not install on macOS Catalina

[socialwill]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

MacBook Pro 2019

Operating System

macOS Catalina

My Question or Issue

When I goto install the Spotify app on a beta version of macOS Catalina I get an alert that says the application can not be installed becuase Apple can not scan the file. "

This software needs to be updated. Contact the developer for more information."

[Bethany_Dawn]

Hi @socialwill ! 🙂
Since the Catalina OS is still in beta/developer stage, the current version of the app will likely not meet all the system requirements. Once Catalina is released this fall, I'd check and see if you can install it then. 

You should be able to still play Spotify in the web browser though.
Hope this helps and have a great day! 🙂

[Loxer]

Hey @socialwill, welcome to the Community.

Hope you're doing great!

@Bethany_Dawn is right as Catalina is not yet released and it's on the Beta stage yet until late September, so don't expect that every app will work as intended.

However, for now try holding the Option key (labeled alt) and right click on "Install Spotify" then click Open.

Let me know how that goes 🙂

[socialwill · Accepted solution]

I was able to bypass the alert by going to System Settings and then Gatekeeper. From there I allowed the Spotify installer to launch and it installed just fine. 

I am aware this is macOS beta software, just letting people know that Spotify will need to update the installer once the software ships. 

Thank you all!

[Loxer]

They will as they always have done 🙂

Glad you sorted it out!

Have a nice day.

[ClemHarvey]

Barring accidents, many common apps like Spotify have such an issue on macOS Catalina. Usually you can bypass this new macOS gateway by opening the app through System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Check Allow apps downloaded from App Store and identified developers > Click Open Anyway.

If it still doesn't work, I assume that you are double clicking on the Spotify install icon, yes? Don't do that. Instead right mouse click on it. You should get an Open option in context menu: Select Open. Then the next dialog box you see will be similar to the one you report, but it will also have the Open button added. Choose Open and voila. It's just a general tip to fix app cannot open in macOS Catalina issue.

Hope it may help you.

[GuitarMan58LP]

I cannot complete the installation and my version of Catalina is 10.15.5.

Error message "download failed, retrying" this loops until I cancel

Spotty Still works on my iPhone however.

What's the issue here?