An Easy Way to Keep Your Mac Apps Up to Date
Since switching to a Mac in 2010, I've met dozens of folks who thought they could get more out of their Apple computers. A few years ago, I began offering an hourly service in that vein.
My Mac Power Hour hasn't taken the world by storm, but the people who've signed up for it have been pleased. (Because we move pretty fast, I always record the sessions for future viewing.)
At the end of every year, I update my list of preferred apps and recommendations. (Readers of this site and my books know that I generally avoid the word stasis.) Exhibit A: I dropped CleanMyMacX in 2023 because it caused me more headaches than I care to discuss here. Claude, Notion, and Raycast remain firmly at the top of my list, but a new one made the cut during my app 2025 review.
Staying Current
Keeping all of your Mac apps updated with their latest versions is a pain in the ass. That reality doesn't make the task any less important. Running a legacy version of an application does more than just prevent you from benefiting from its latest bells and whistles. You expose yourself to security vulnerabilities.
You'd think that all software vendors would clearly alert their users and customers when their products have shipped new versions. And you'd be spectacularly wrong. Many vendors make updating their apps obvious with a visible red badge. Todoist is a case in point.
Others, however, obscure this critical fact. (Hello, Notion.) Of course, you can open individual apps and manually update them, but the process is time-consuming and often frustrating.
Exploring a Solution
In 2025, I played with an open-source app designed to solve this very problem: Latest. In a word, meh. It neglected to inform me that key apps needed updates, including the Brave browser. Not that long ago, I stumbled upon Updatest and ditched Latest.
Updatest doesn't catch all your apps in need of updates, but its batting average far exceeds that of Latest. I reached out to its support team. Here's its response.
Updatest detects updates programatically, not manually. This means we rely on sources for your apps like Brew, MAS CLI, GitHub, Sparkle, and Electron. If none of these sources display [sic] an update, Updatest cannot show you an update for the app.
I'm currently experimenting with Homebrew commands that should reduce the number of apps that require manual updates. Here's the one for Notion:
brew install --cask --force notion-appUpdatest is currently in beta with a 14-day free trial. Based on my early success with it, I've purchased a lifetime license and have added it to my power hour.
Member discussion