Installation

Installing EmoTracker

EmoTracker is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Download the latest release from the Releases page and follow the instructions for your platform below.

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Windows

1. Download

From the Releases page, download EmoTracker-VERSION-win-x64.zip.

2. Choose an install location

Extract the zip to a permanent folder of your choice — for example C:\EmoTracker or C:\Games\EmoTracker. EmoTracker runs directly from this folder; there is no traditional installer.

Warning: Avoid Windows-protected folders (Controlled Folder Access)

If Windows Defender's Controlled Folder Access (CFA) feature is enabled on your system, placing EmoTracker inside any of the following default protected folders will prevent the built-in auto-updater from working:

• Desktop
• Documents (My Documents)
• Pictures
• Videos
• Music

EmoTracker will detect this situation and abort the update with a warning rather than fail silently. To avoid the issue entirely, install EmoTracker somewhere outside these folders, such as C:\EmoTracker or a subfolder of C:\Games.

If you must keep EmoTracker inside a protected folder, you can whitelist EmoTracker.exe in Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Ransomware protection → Allow an app through Controlled Folder Access.

3. Run

Open the extracted folder and double-click EmoTracker.exe.

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macOS

1. Download

From the Releases page, download EmoTracker-VERSION-osx-universal.tar.gz.

This is a universal binary that runs natively on both Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x64) Macs. macOS 10.15 Catalina or later is required.

2. Extract

Double-click the .tar.gz file in Finder, or run the following in Terminal:

tar xf EmoTracker-VERSION-osx-universal.tar.gz

This produces EmoTracker.app.

3. Move to Applications

Drag EmoTracker.app into your /Applications folder.

Warning: Running from outside /Applications will break auto-updates

macOS applies App Translocation to apps that are run directly from a download location (e.g. your Downloads folder or an unextracted archive). When translocation is active, macOS runs the app from a hidden read-only path, which prevents the built-in auto-updater from replacing the app bundle. EmoTracker will detect this and abort the update with a warning rather than fail silently.

Moving EmoTracker.app to /Applications (or any other permanent folder outside your Downloads directory) clears the translocation flag and allows updates to work correctly.

4. First launch — Gatekeeper

Because EmoTracker is distributed outside the Mac App Store, macOS will block it on the first launch. To open it:

1. Right-click (or Control-click) EmoTracker.app and choose Open.
2. Click Open in the dialog that appears.

You only need to do this once. Subsequent launches work normally.

Alternatively, if you already double-clicked and got a "cannot be opened" message:

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
2. Scroll down to the Security section and click Open Anyway next to the EmoTracker entry.

Note: The built-in auto-updater automatically removes the quarantine attribute from downloaded updates, so you will not need to repeat this process after each update.

5. Run

Double-click EmoTracker.app in Finder, or open it from Launchpad.

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Linux

1. Download

From the Releases page, download EmoTracker-VERSION-linux-x64.zip.

2. Extract

unzip EmoTracker-VERSION-linux-x64.zip -d EmoTracker

This creates an EmoTracker directory containing the application files.

3. Make the binary executable

chmod +x EmoTracker/EmoTracker

4. Run

./EmoTracker/EmoTracker

You can also create a desktop shortcut or launcher entry pointing to the EmoTracker binary.

Note: The release includes a self-contained .NET 8 runtime, so no separate .NET installation is required. Audio playback uses the system audio libraries — make sure your distribution has ALSA or PulseAudio/PipeWire available (this is standard on most desktop distributions).

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Updating

EmoTracker includes a built-in auto-updater. When a new release is available you will be prompted inside the application. Accepting the update downloads, installs, and relaunches EmoTracker automatically. No manual download is required for subsequent updates.