The Unarchiver
The Unarchiver is a free app that extracts files from ZIP, RAR, 7z and many older archive formats. It’s made by MacPaw, based in Ukraine.
Criminals have used its name in fake downloads or scams, so get it only from theunarchiver.com.
What it is
The Unarchiver opens compressed archives, including RAR and 7z files. People use it to unpack downloads and older archives.
It reads the archives you open and writes their contents to a destination folder. The sandboxed version can ask for access to that folder or permission to find other parts of a split archive.
The official app is available from MacPaw and the Mac App Store. MacPaw says it does not collect the files you unpack. Its privacy policy covers collection of usage data, device details and approximate location from your IP address.
Who makes it
MacPaw is a software company founded in 2008, with headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine. Its legal name is MacPaw Way Ltd.. Its website is macpaw.com.
Is it the real one?
Every Mac app carries a signature from the developer who made it. Apple checks who the developer is before handing out the certificate, and macOS refuses to open an app whose signature has been tampered with.
HARD hasn’t yet recorded the signature on a real copy of The Unarchiver. Its Mac app shows who signed the copy you have.
Its bundle ID, the name macOS knows it by, is com.macpaw.site.theunarchiver or cx.c3.theunarchiver. Download it only from theunarchiver.com or the Mac App Store, not from an ad or a link someone sends you.
Fakes. In July 2024, Hunt.io reported a lookalike download site distributing malware disguised as The Unarchiver. The fake app stole user data.
What it connects to
In normal use, The Unarchiver talks to these places on the internet. A firewall that asks before apps connect, like the one in HARD’s Mac app, will show them.
| Address | Why |
|---|---|
updates.devmate.com | Checks for app updates. |
dl.devmate.com | Downloads app updates. |
sentry.io | Reports errors and session diagnostics. |
Security record
Problems with The Unarchiver or MacPaw in the last three years, newest first. Keeping the app up to date covers the ones that were fixed.
| When | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| MacPaw disclosed a flaw in its XADMaster extraction library that could bypass macOS security checks for specially crafted ZIP files; it was fixed in XADMaster 1.10.8. | ↗ | |
| CVE-2023-46270 documented missing quarantine attributes on extracted files; MacPaw's release notes say it was fixed in The Unarchiver 4.3.6. | ↗ |
References
- The Unarchiver — official website theunarchiver.com
- The Unarchiver — Mac App Store and version history apps.apple.com
- About MacPaw macpaw.com
- The Unarchiver Terms of Use macpaw.com
- The Unarchiver Privacy Policy macpaw.com
- Homebrew — The Unarchiver download and update configuration github.com
- The Unarchiver network request capture gist.github.com
- The Unarchiver crash report showing its older bundle identifier gist.github.com
- The Unarchiver source — destination folder access sources.debian.org
- MacPaw XADMaster security advisory — CVE-2024-22405 github.com
- SingCERT bulletin — CVE-2023-46270 isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg
- Hunt.io — macOS malware impersonates The Unarchiver hunt.io