Aevum for macOS isn't packaged yet - here is exactly what will happen when it is.
This build isn't out yet. It is next in the queue - the app is finished, the packaging is not.
get told when it lands →Version 0.1.0 when it lands · free forever, no account required.
It will call Aevum an app from an unidentified developer, and refuse to open it on the first try. It is right: we are, so far, unidentified.
Apple charges $99 a year to become identified, and notarisation on top of it. That money went into Aevum Voice - the model that reads your manuscript - because a writing app that thinks well seemed worth more than a writing app that opens without a second click. We'll pay Apple as soon as the room is full.
The warning is about a missing membership, not about the file. Scan it with whatever you trust - we're not offended. Two clicks below and it opens like anything else.
Double-click the .dmg, then drag Aevum onto the Applications folder beside it.
Launch Aevum from Applications. macOS will refuse and mention an unidentified developer. That refusal is the step - it registers the attempt.
macOS 15 Sequoia and later: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the Security section, and click Open Anyway next to the note about Aevum. Confirm with Touch ID or your password.
macOS 14 and earlier: Control-click Aevum in Applications, choose Open, then Open again in the dialog.
Both routes allow this one app. Leave Gatekeeper on for everything else.
That message means the download picked up a quarantine flag, not that anything is broken. In Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Aevum.appThen open it normally.
Aevum opens like a letter, not a dashboard. It asks your name, shows you what it is and isn't, lets you pick the light the room works in, and takes a name for your first workspace. Then it gets out of the way.
No account is required to write. Nothing is uploaded. Your manuscripts are plain files on your own disk - see the privacy policy if you want the long version.