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a few steps left. Your download should start on its own. If it didn't, download Habitat manually.
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1
Downloads
Open the Habitat disk image from your Downloads folder
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2
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Drag the Habitat icon into your Applications folder — before you open it
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3
Freeform.appHabitat.appMail.app
Open Habitat from your Applications folder
Step 2 is not tidiness. macOS runs a freshly downloaded app from a randomised read-only path (App Translocation), and Habitat cannot install its own updates from there. Move it into Applications first, then open it.
Windows x64 portable preview
- Open the archive from Downloads and extract the entire Habitat folder somewhere permanent.
- Open Habitat.exe inside that folder. If SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway.
- Sign in to your hosted Habitat. Keep the folder together; replace it with the next release to update.
This first Windows package is unsigned and hosted-only. It includes the Desk and in-app Chromium browser; the bundled local engine and file mirror remain macOS-only in this release.
Linux x64 portable preview
- Extract the archive from Downloads somewhere permanent.
- Open a terminal in the extracted folder and run ./habitat.
- Sign in to your hosted Habitat. Replace the folder with the next release to update.
This package includes the hosted Desk and in-app Chromium browser. The bundled local engine and file mirror remain macOS-only in this release.
This build is not notarized yet — macOS blocks the first launch
It carries no Apple Developer ID signature, so macOS refuses to open it the first time and says it cannot verify the app is free of malicious software. That is expected. On macOS 15 Sequoia and newer, this is the way through:
- Double-click Habitat in Applications. macOS blocks it — click Done.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to Security. A line there says Habitat was blocked: click Open Anyway and confirm with Touch ID or your password.
- Click Open Anyway once more in the dialog that follows. Habitat opens, and every later launch is normal.
Control-click → Open no longer works. Apple removed that bypass in macOS 15, so most instructions on the internet are wrong for this OS. System Settings is the supported route. If you would rather use one command in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Habitat.appAn unsigned app also carries no proof of who built it. Open it only if you got it from Habitat directly, and check the download against the SHA-256 the manifest publishes:
- macOS asks again for microphone and other permissions after every update: an unsigned app has no stable code identity across builds.
- Nothing here is verified by Apple. You are trusting the source of the download, not a signature.
Both of those disappear with a notarized build.
Habitat opens on the account screen. Choosing a hosted Habitat or keeping everything on this Mac happens in onboarding, inside the app.