Rectangle Pro not launching on login

[rxhanson]

On Ventura, even with Launch on Login checked in the settings tab of the preferences window, and with Rectangle Pro listed in the "Login Items" section of System Settings, it doesn't launch on login.

I am not able to reproduce this, but am adding this issue to track it.

First, try unchecking and re-checking the box in the preferences window.

In v2.8, I added a terminal command that goes back to the old way of doing launch on login, with the helper app. I view this as a workaround until I can figure out why the other way is not working for everyone.

First, uncheck the launch on login checkbox in the settings tab.

Then execute this command and restart the app:

defaults write com.knollsoft.Hookshot helperLaunchOnLogin -int 1

Then check the launch on login checkbox in the settings tab.

[lgarron]

First, uncheck the launch on login checkbox in the settings tab.

Then execute this command and restart the app:

defaults write com.knollsoft.Hookshot helperLaunchOnLogin -int 1

Then check the launch on login checkbox in the settings tab.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I tried following those 4 steps carefully and it did not work. 😢

[rxhanson]

@lgarron, did you try manually adding Rectangle Pro to the System Settings: Login Items section? There could be something weird going on with the API for adding it.

[yakimant]

I had the same issue with 2 apps, another one was Dropbox.

I recently updated both and removed the following attributes at the same time:

• com.apple.provenance
• com.apple.macl
• com.apple.quarantine And now both start.

This article might be related: https://eclecticlight.co/2023/03/13/ventura-has-changed-app-quarantine-with-a-new-xattr/

Another thing - I installed both apps with hombrew casks, so it could affect macOS security attributes.

So in order to reproduce, I think the following could help:

1. Install through Hombrew
2. Apply these xattr atributes

[yakimant]

Applying attributes is not easy I guess, they have some payload.

So I actually just reproduced with hombrew:

1. upgraded all apps with brew
2. they all got com.apple.provenance and com.apple.quarantine
3. added them to "Open at Login" manually
4. removing com.apple.quarantine from one of them helped and application is running on login

[rxhanson]

Thanks @yakimant for the follow up. When I get a chance, I'll have to compare the brew cask install with a dmg install and see if things can be narrowed down further (if it's a brew issue, then we'll want to let the brew team know our findings).

[mikeleedev]

I'm having this same issue, have tried the fix in the first comment with no luck. Just for context; I did install the non pro version of Rectangle using brew; but have since uninstalled, purchased Pro and installed myself by downloading from the website.

When I execute a xattr against /Applications/Rectangle\ Pro.app I do in fact see three entries: xattr /Applications/Rectangle\ Pro.app com.apple.macl com.apple.provenance com.apple.quarantine

Is the fix as simple as removing one (com.apple.quarantine) or all three? If so, is removing one at a time using "xattr -d" the proper way?

I'm a little afraid of borking myself as I absolutely cannot live without Rectangle Pro; it's just awesome and I need it to function.

[rxhanson]

@mikeleedev I can't really give guidance here since this is outside of my normal realm. If it were me, maybe I'd just have a time machine back up ready to revert if something didn't go quite right and I couldn't put it back together.