Getting message asking me to sign in to use an app

[mac_in_tosh]

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro running High Sierra that for security reasons has not been connected to the internet for quite some time. I use it to keep and update some documents and spreadsheets. There's a secure delete app that I've used without any issues but all of a sudden when I try to run it I get a message saying it was purchased using the app store on another computer and in order to use it I have to sign in using the Apple ID and password used to purchase it.

Why would this message suddenly appear after all these years, especially as the app was not purchased on another computer. I'm not going to connect to the internet so is there anything else I could try?

 

[chown33]

It might be one of the security certificates involved in the purchase has expired.

You could try temporarily setting the date of the computer back and see if it solves the problem. I suggest using a date around the time when you last used the app and it worked.

If this solves the problem, then my bet would be an expired cert. Figuring out how to fix it for the long term is a bigger puzzle, but at least if there's good confidence it's an expired cert you can stop looking for the cause.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

It might be one of the security certificates involved in the purchase has expired.

You could try temporarily setting the date of the computer back and see if it solves the problem.

That was it, thanks. But it's important that the documents and spreadsheets that I use on that laptop have the correct date, so I put it back.

 

[chown33]

At least the problem is identified.

I vaguely recall someone else a while back in a similar situation, and they made a couple of Automator apps that would set the date back and then restore it. The back-date action did so after first writing the current date to a file, then to restore the date, the other action would read from the file. It was at least several years ago, so I don't recall any details. I don't think I ever looked at the code, so I can't tell you what it did. If I was doing it, I'd use the 'date' shell command, but that's because I'm familiar with it, and I know it can do all the things desired.

One variation that may be a bit simpler would be to set the date back an exact integer number of years, which means the month, day, and time would remain unchanged. This has the advantage of not needing to write the current data to any file, it just needs to check the year for being within a certain range, and then either add or subtract a fixed number of years.

If you want to try something like that, you can ask programming questions in the Programming Forum:

iOS, Mac, tvOS, watchOS Programming

programming for all Apple devices

forums.macrumors.com

 

[mac_in_tosh]

I think since I don't use the laptop often, it won't be too burdensome to use System Preferences to set the date back temporarily, run the app and then restore the date. But it's good to understand the situation.