macOS Sierra tidbits: Gatekeeper “Anywhere” option removed, optimized storage with iCloud, RAID support, more
Context & Ripple Effects
A day after Apple unveiled macOS Sierra at WWDC — Siri on the desktop, Apple Pay, auto unlock, universal clipboard, per the June 14 announcement — MacRumors rounds up the smaller changes that didn't make the keynote: Gatekeeper loses its "Anywhere" option, Optimized Storage leans on iCloud, and RAID support arrives.
The follow-up coverage matters here: by September, reviewers found that the same Optimized Storage feature is buggy when syncing Desktop and Documents to iCloud (Six Colors' report) and that the free iCloud tier is too small to absorb what the feature offloads (The Verge's Sierra review).
First-order effects
- Users who relied on Gatekeeper's "Anywhere" setting to run unsigned apps lose the one-click bypass and must approve each app individually or use per-app overrides.
- Mac owners enabling Optimized Storage start having local files pushed to iCloud, making their iCloud storage plan part of their disk-space math from day one.
Second-order effects
- Apple's paid iCloud tiers become the pressure-release valve for Optimized Storage — reviewers flagging the free tier as too limited turns a convenience feature into an upsell path.
- Third-party disk-cleanup utilities face a built-in competitor as macOS absorbs the offload-to-cloud function they sold.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, macOS keeps trading user-controlled defaults (security toggles, local-only storage) for managed ones, with Apple's cloud services positioned as the default destination — a direction later releases like Monterey continued exploring.
The trend: macOS is steadily shifting control from local settings to Apple-managed services, with each release nudging users toward iCloud dependence and tighter security defaults.