Hey — listen, I spent last evening poking at Meo (app) on macOS and figured I’d write it up for you while it’s still fresh in my head. This isn’t a horror story, more like one of those quiet macOS paper cuts that wastes an hour if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
Context first. I’m on a MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon (M1), running macOS Sonoma 14.1. Clean system, nothing exotic. I wanted a small, offline-friendly productivity tool — notes, drafts, lightweight organization. The URL slug I started from was “meo”, which lines up with Meo as a desktop utility rather than a game. Sounded harmless enough.
It wasn’t dramatic. It just… didn’t open.
I downloaded the app from the official site, dragged it into Applications like a civilized person, clicked it. Dock icon bounced once. Then vanished. No warning. No dialog. No “app is damaged” message. Just gone. That’s always the moment when you sigh and think, “Okay, macOS, what did you silently decide this time?”
What I did first — and what didn’t help
My first instinct was the classic ritual: delete the app, re-download it, try again. I even rebooted, which I know never fixes anything but makes you feel responsible.
Same result. Bounce. Gone.
At that point I checked Console for crash logs. Nothing meaningful. Activity Monitor showed the process spawning and dying instantly. That was the clue. When macOS kills something that fast and doesn’t complain, it’s almost always Gatekeeper or code signing.
What I misunderstood at first
I was waiting for macOS to ask me if I wanted to allow the app. You know the usual popup: “This app was downloaded from the internet.” That never appeared. I assumed that meant Gatekeeper wasn’t involved.
That assumption was wrong.
On newer macOS versions, Gatekeeper sometimes blocks apps quietly and just leaves a note in Privacy & Security instead of interrupting you. Apple documents this behavior, but only if you already know to look for it:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491
Once I opened System Settings → Privacy & Security and scrolled down (way down), there it was. A single line saying Meo was blocked because it couldn’t be verified, with an Open Anyway button.
I clicked it, confirmed, tried launching again.
Progress, sort of. The app window appeared this time — and then immediately froze on the splash screen. Cursor still moved, macOS didn’t beachball, but the app wasn’t going anywhere. I let it sit for a full minute just to be sure. Nothing.
Another wrong turn
At this stage I assumed it was a permissions issue. I started granting access preemptively: Files and Folders, Full Disk Access, background execution. This was mostly cargo cult behavior, and unsurprisingly it didn’t help.
I rolled most of that back. Lesson re-learned: if an app hasn’t even fully launched, privacy permissions are rarely the root cause.
What actually fixed it
The real fix turned out to be boring and technical, which is usually the right kind.
I inspected the app bundle and noticed the main executable didn’t have proper execute permissions. This can happen with apps distributed outside the App Store, especially if notarization is partial or missing. macOS will sometimes copy the app fine but treat the binary like it doesn’t quite trust it.
So, Terminal time. One command:
chmod +x /Applications/Meo.app/Contents/MacOS/*
That’s it. No scripts, no hacks.
After that, I launched the app again. This time it opened normally. No freeze. Setup completed. CPU usage dropped to idle. I quit and relaunched twice just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.
Apple’s developer documentation explains why this class of issue exists — notarization and code signing failures don’t always surface cleanly anymore, especially on modern macOS:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/notarizing_macos_software_before_distribution
After the fix, the app behaved exactly like you’d expect. Stable, responsive, nothing fancy. Which is honestly the best outcome.
A quick side note
While I was double-checking that I wasn’t missing something obvious, I saved this page because it lined up with what I was seeing around macOS productivity tools and security quirks:
https://rvfcb.com/office-and-productivity/81195-meo.html
It wasn’t a magic answer, but it reassured me I wasn’t the only one hitting this kind of friction.
If you’re the App Store-only type, you can also sanity-check whether there’s an official listing or alternative builds via Apple’s search:
https://apps.apple.com/us/search?term=meo
I didn’t use the App Store version here, but it’s a useful reference point.
What I’d do next time (the short checklist)
If I had to set this up again tomorrow, here’s the no-drama path I’d follow:
- Install the app once. No reinstall loops.
- Immediately check Privacy & Security for a blocked-app notice.
- If it launches but freezes or exits instantly, verify executable permissions.
- Only touch privacy permissions after the app actually runs.
That’s it. No voodoo.
One last thing — this is exactly the sort of situation where tools like OrchardKit end up being useful later on, not because they magically fix anything, but because they help keep track of what you changed and why when you’re juggling multiple macOS utilities across systems.
Anyway, that’s the story. Not a disaster, just one of those quiet macOS moments where the OS is “protecting” you and forgetting to explain itself. Once you know the pattern, it’s a five-minute fix instead of an evening.
Top comments (0)