Is CleanMyMac X an Apple authorized app?

There is absolutely no need for you to install CMMX.

Please read: Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

• "Never install any product that claims to "clean up", "speed up", "optimize", "boost" or "accelerate" your Mac; to "wash" it, "tune" it, or to make it "shiny". Those claims are absurd.
  • Such products are very aggressively marketed. They are all scams.
  • They generally operate on the flawed premise that a Mac accumulates "junk" that needs to be routinely "cleaned out" for optimum performance.
  • Trial versions of those programs are successful because they provide the instant gratification of greater free disk space.
  • That increased space is the result of irreversible destruction of files, programs, or operating system components normally protected from inadvertent alteration or deletion. The eventual result will be unreliable operation, poor performance and random crashes that may not become evident for months or even years after their use, when updates to programs or macOS are eventually released.
  • Memory "cleaners" that circumvent macOS's memory management algorithms work by purging inactive memory contents to mass storage, which can only result in degraded performance and accelerated hardware failure."

Kurt, there is a meaning to "Notarized by Apple". Any app has to be notarized by Apple in order to run on Catalina.

https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=06032019i

However, it does appear MacPaw is using that fact to mislead.

Apple does not endorse any third party software of any kind. Especially not that type of junk.

Any such notice is a lie and something the vendor put there themselves. And what would "Notarized" mean anyway? It's a nonsense phrase. Purposely confused with Endorsed in an attempt to make it sound legitimate. Had they actually said endorsed, Apple Legal would have something to say to them about that.

Ah. Much like the notice vendors can put on Windows software that says, Windows Certified. Which only means the app was submitted to Microsoft, where it was confirmed it ran as expected in the version of Windows OS it's intended for. Which is not even slightly the same as it's worth a nickel of your money to buy.

"Much like the notice vendors can put on Windows software that says, Windows Certified. Which only means the app was submitted to Microsoft".

In fact it is even less than that. It is just an additional code signing step in order to add confidence in the Dev ID signature at the moment the App is released. It does some checks for potential malicious behaviors but that's it. It is used in interaction with Gatekeeper.

"Notarization" is a process used in security where you want a trusted third party to stamp the integrity and the origin of a document, an application... at a specific point in time to ensure it was not modified.

WD

That doesn't surprise me. My reference was to over a decade ago when these stickers first started appearing on software boxes. At the time (to the best of my memory), it was explained as apps needed to be submitted to MS for a glossing over.

But as your explanation points out, it sounds like Windows Certified has become even less than that. However, you noted it in reference to Apple (Gatekeeper). I meant Windows apps. Still, that has also very likely also changed a lot over the years.

Macs do not need any kind of cleaning app. Most of them will clean so well that they may delete system files that are needed.

Cool you got a Mac - how old are you?

Indeed.