If you are a designer, engineer, or creative professional using a Mac, you may have recently encountered a frustrating pop-up message: “The application ‘xf-adesk19’ can’t be opened.” This error typically appears when launching certain modified or patched versions of Adobe Creative Suite applications (most notably Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, After Effects, or Photoshop from the 2019-2020 generation) on macOS.

Drag the problematic Adobe app from your Applications folder into the Terminal window. The path will auto-fill. The full command will look something like:

Let me know the of the error and your macOS version for a more precise fix.

Inside the MacOS folder, you will see one or more executable files. Look for a file named after the app (e.g., Adobe Acrobat , After Effects , or strangely, xf-adesk19 itself).

A new dialog box will appear saying "macOS cannot verify the developer." Click again.