Installing Clash Verge on macOS — check your chip first

Installing on a Mac has one prerequisite Windows users never meet: you need to know which chip your Mac has. Get it wrong and the app either refuses to open or runs with a performance penalty.

Step 1: identify the chip

Click the menu → About This Mac and read the "Chip" or "Processor" line:

The dividing line is late 2020: essentially every Mac released after that is Apple Silicon.

Grab the matching DMG from the download page.

Step 2: install

DMG installation works nothing like Windows:

Step 3: deal with the "damaged" message

The first time you open it, macOS will very likely say:

"Clash Verge" is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

The file is not actually damaged. This is Gatekeeper blocking an app that has not been notarised by Apple. There is a separate article on it: three ways to fix the macOS "damaged" error.

The one-line fix:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Clash\ Verge.app

It asks for your password — type your login password (nothing appears as you type, which is normal) and press Enter.

Step 4: grant system permissions

Clash Verge needs a few permissions on macOS, each with its own prompt:

The privileged helper is what lets Clash Verge change system proxy settings and install the TUN service. The first time you enable either, it asks for your password.

If you accidentally clicked Deny: go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to the bottom — there is usually a "… was blocked" notice with an "Allow Anyway" button. If you cannot find it, quit Clash Verge and reopen it so the prompt fires again.

Step 5: import a subscription and enable the proxy

Same as everywhere else:

1. Profiles on the left → paste your URL → Import → click the card to select it
2. Turn on System Proxy on the home screen
3. On the Proxies page, test latency and pick a node

On macOS the system proxy is written into whichever network service is currently active (Wi-Fi or Ethernet). You can verify it under System Settings → Network → your connection → Details → Proxies, where you should see HTTP/HTTPS pointing at 127.0.0.1.

macOS-specific problems

The network dies after quitting the app

Same cause as on Windows: a leftover system proxy setting. Clear it manually:

System Settings → Network → Wi-Fi → Details → Proxies → untick "Web Proxy (HTTP)" and "Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS)" → OK.

It asks for a password on every boot

The privileged helper did not get installed as a persistent service. Reinstall it from the Service Mode entry in Clash Verge settings. If it keeps failing, quit the app completely and run:

sudo launchctl list | grep -i verge

to see whether the service registered at all.

TUN mode is unstable on Apple Silicon

First confirm you installed the native Apple Silicon build rather than the Intel one — check Activity Monitor, where the "Kind" column should say "Apple" and not "Intel".

Then set the TUN stack to gvisor in settings; it is more compatible than system.

Making the terminal use the proxy

The macOS terminal does not read the system proxy. Add this to ~/.zshrc:

alias proxyon='export https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7897 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7897 all_proxy=socks5://127.0.0.1:7897'
alias proxyoff='unset https_proxy http_proxy all_proxy'

Then type proxyon to enable and proxyoff to disable. Keep the port in sync with the mixed port in Clash Verge settings.

Uninstalling

Dragging to the Trash only removes the app; config and core files remain. Full cleanup is covered in uninstalling and clearing leftovers; the config directory on macOS is:

~/Library/Application Support/io.github.clash-verge-rev.clash-verge-rev

In short

Three things matter on a Mac: pick the right chip build, drag to Applications before running, and fix "damaged" with the xattr command.

Past those, the experience is much the same as on Windows.

Related: the "damaged" error in detail and six settings on first launch.