Updatest is a Mac app that unifies updates from Homebrew, Mac App Store, Sparkle, Electron, and GitHub Releases into one clean dashboard. Discover outdated apps, adopt manual installs into Homebrew, get security details, and bulk‑update with confidence—no sketchy update databases, your data stays local.
Updatest
Hey Product Hunt 👋
I’m Jared, an indie macOS developer and the creator of Updatest.
Updatest is your new home for Mac updates. It unifies updates from Homebrew, Mac App Store, Sparkle, Electron, and GitHub Releases into one clean dashboard.
Updatest started as a small tool I built for myself to bring manually installed apps under Homebrew, making it easier to keep everything up to date without spending time in the terminal. Over time it grew into a single place to keep all my apps updated, regardless of how they update.
I shared the first version of Reddit, got more feedback, and most recently felt I really hit a nerve. We can even go all the way back in time to when Updatest was called Caskly.
The response showed this was a problem a lot of macOS users were running into, which helped drive the direction of the app. I’m excited to finally share it here now that it’s officially out of beta.
How it fits together
macOS apps update through many different systems, and some apps you install manually can also be managed by Homebrew later on. Updatest was the first updater to surface this capability in a clear, guided way, long before it became a common pattern.
What’s included?
- Automatic detection of supported update sources per app
- Clear, guided Homebrew adoption for apps installed outside of Homebrew
- Homebrew formulae updates alongside app updates
- Source aware update checks that reflect how each app updates
- A fully native macOS experience with no tracking and no telemetry
The goal is simple: make macOS updates understandable without compromising privacy.
Would love to hear what you think, especially now that it’s out of beta.
@hugeirl Hello :-) Congratulation and thank you for sharing this beautiful tool. So far I used Macupdater, but it is no longer developed.
The updatest interface is modern and very well done. I love it. I think that in a few updates, updatest will be the worthy replacement for macupdater. ;-) Updatest is already very good.
Updatest
@nicolam Thank you for the kind words!
DiffSense
Have you considered Tauri apps? Electron apps are always 500mb because they ember chrome. Tauri is like Bun Is to NPM. Faster, Better, Stronger. And apps are super tiny, 10mb+++ Because they use native browser engines. TBH. Having used Tauri for a week now. Super impressed. It also has auto updates, so i recon its possible to pipe into somehow? Or just check app version with release tag in github or smth. Might be worth looking into. Curious, how do you know if electron apps are outdated or not?
Updatest
@conduit_design ooo interesting!
I'll take a look at what Tauri exposes, if there's a way for Updatest to see the updates for them then it's an easy inclusion!
For your question: Curious, how do you know if electron apps are outdated or not?
Same way we check for any other app updates! The apps themselves have information internally that Updatest can check to see if an update exists in some fashion, and then uses Updatest's own version comparison logic to detect if said update exists!
DiffSense
@hugeirl Seems like support for the apis you need is maybe coming to tauri soon. breakdown: https://gist.github.com/eonist/545e597f0a2b0bd1fcf3e35d48980ca1
Updatest
@conduit_design This was a great write up thank you!
Congrats on the launch! Love how Updatest unifies Homebrew, MAS, Sparkle, Electron, and GitHub updates into one trusted, local-first dashboard.
Updatest
@zeiki_yu thank you, I appreciate it!
Triforce Todos
This is basically a dashboard for people who hate juggling updates as I do. Can it also handle apps I installed years ago and forgot about?
Updatest
@abod_rehman great question!
It totally can. Updatest doesn't care where or when you installed your app, just if it has an update source, and an update. 🙂
Raycast
Before @Updatest, I was using TrashMe 3 (terrible name!), Latest, the Homebrew Raycast extension (which I contributed to!), and in-app Sparkle updates and the App Store to keep my apps up to date.
But Updatest handles all of those sources and helps me migrate random apps I've installed to be managed by Homebrew, which is much more reliable and convenient.
@hugeirl has been cranking on Updatest to get to this launch, and the quality of his work shows.
If you use Mac apps and want to keep them up-to-date, you owe it to yourself to give Updatest a try.
I bought a license within minutes of downloading the app — and it's improved by leaps and bounds since then!
Product Hunt
Updatest
@curiouskitty Great question!
I wouldn't consider that messy - I think that's pretty standard! Updatest's goal is to match all your apps to their appropriate sources and then provide you with updates for them when they come out.
If you want to centralize your apps (or, your apps don't expose a supported update source), Updatest allows you to adopt your existing manually installed apps to Homebrew so that Updatest can then provide you updates for them.
Some Homebrew adoptions require the users password, and Updatest doesn't see or ask for this password, instead providing you a one click button to execute the command in your Terminal on your Mac, where you can safely enter the password to complete the adoption. This also applies for any internal Brew commands Updatest needs to run on your behalf to install updates too, everything is delegated to the correct native MacOS application where applicable.
Raycast
Product Hunt
@chrismessina Nothing remarkable about me. Still using @Ngrok like everyone else to test the webhooks that power my personal catfood delivery tracker. And while @iTerm2 has served me well for many years, it's hard not to be excited by the chatter around @Ghostty. Sounds like with @Updatest I won't fall behind as new features come out too 😻
Updatest
@chrismessina @curiouskitty If you ever release that cat food delivery tracker as a macOS app, let me know and we'll make sure your users can find updates for it via Updatest!
Unifying updates without sacrificing trust is harder than it looks.
What update source caused the most complexity when you brought everything together?
Updatest
@mhamdouchi Funny enough I'd say the Mac App Store. Apple really tries to restrict what can access their API's and how fresh the data is (to be expected) however apps like Updatest need to rely on what Apple provides to be able to give accurate information!
@hugeirl That makes sense. Apple’s constraints are understandable, but they definitely raise the bar for accuracy and trust. Appreciate you sharing that tradeoff.