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Turn off SIP for imbridge

magpie sends through imbridge, which loads a small helper into Messages. macOS only allows that with System Integrity Protection (SIP) turned off, plus two related settings. These are the steps from imbridge’s own setup.

This lowers the security of the whole Mac, not just Messages. Use a Mac dedicated to it; an old Mac mini is ideal. While SIP is off, iPhone and iPad apps from the App Store won’t open.

You need an Apple silicon Mac, and an administrator’s password on it.

1. Turn off SIP

  1. Shut down the Mac.
  2. Hold the power button until “Loading startup options” appears.
  3. Choose Options, then Continue, and pick your user if asked.
  4. Choose Utilities > Terminal, and run: 
    csrutil disable
  5. Restart.

2. Set the boot-arg, and turn off library validation

Back in macOS, open Terminal and run:

sudo nvram boot-args="-arm64e_preview_abi"
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true

The first sets the arm64e boot-arg, and the second turns off library validation. Without all three settings, macOS starts Messages without the helper and says nothing.

3. Restart again

The boot-arg takes effect when the Mac starts up.

Check it

SIP should be off:

csrutil status
System Integrity Protection status: disabled.

The boot-arg should be set:

nvram boot-args
boot-args	-arm64e_preview_abi

Library validation should be off:

defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation
1

Then let imbridge check everything it needs, including Full Disk Access and whether its helper matches your macOS. Until the Mac restarts, it reports the boot-arg as “set, restart to apply”. 

imbridge doctor

Undo it

With any one of these back on, Messages starts without imbridge’s helper, and magpie can’t send.