How to update apps on your Mac.

Where an app came from

That decides who updates it. The App Store only updates apps you got from it. Apps you downloaded from a developer's website update themselves, if they can. Homebrew only updates what Homebrew installed.

To check, open the App Store and search for the app. If the button says Open, the app is installed from the App Store.

Apps from the App Store

1. Open the App Store.
2. Click Updates in the sidebar.
3. Click Update next to an app, or Update All.

Turn on automatic updates

In the App Store, choose App Store → Settings and turn on Automatic Updates. Your Mac then installs App Store updates in the background. An app that's open may wait until you quit it.

If an update won't appear or install

Make sure you're signed in with the Apple Account that bought the app, then quit and reopen the App Store. Apple has a support page for other causes: If you can't download or update apps on your Mac.

Apps you downloaded from a website

Most apps outside the App Store, like Firefox, Discord, Rectangle or IINA, carry their own updater. Many indie apps use one called Sparkle, and Electron apps use their own updater too. They check the developer's server and offer the new version.

1. Open the app.
2. Click the app's name in the menu bar, next to the Apple menu.
3. Choose Check for Updates… Some apps keep it in the Help menu or in Settings instead.
4. Install the update and let the app relaunch.

Most of these updaters also have an "automatically check for updates" setting. Turn it on. It only runs while that app is open, so an app you open once a month checks once a month.

If there's no Check for Updates

Some apps don't update themselves. Check the developer's website for a newer version, download it, quit the app, and drag the new copy into your Applications folder, replacing the old one. Your settings are usually kept.

Only download updates from the developer's own site, not from a pop-up that says an app is out of date.

Apps and tools from Homebrew

If you installed something with brew install, Homebrew keeps track of it and updates it.

# refresh Homebrew and see what's behind
brew update
brew outdated

# update everything Homebrew installed
brew upgrade

# or one app
brew upgrade --cask firefox

Apps that update themselves are skipped by brew outdated and brew upgrade by default, because their own updater is expected to handle them. Add --greedy to include them anyway. Some casks ask for your password partway through. Enter it in Terminal.

Command-line tools from npm, pnpm and uv

npm, pnpm and uv tools don't update through Homebrew. Each has its own command: npm update -g, pnpm update -g --latest and uv tool upgrade --all.

Software Update and your apps

System Settings → General → Software Update updates macOS and the apps built into it, such as Safari, Notes and Mail. Install those updates too, because Apple's security fixes arrive there. Software Update doesn't update your other apps.

Seeing every update in one place

Updated by hand, that's the App Store, Homebrew and Software Update, plus each downloaded app's own menu. It's easy to check only the apps you use daily. The others fall behind, and some of those may have security fixes waiting.

An app updater checks every app's update source for you and lists what's behind. Greypaint does this. With it, updating everything looks like this:

1. Open Greypaint. It checks every app in your Applications folder against the developer's own update source, such as a Sparkle or Electron feed, GitHub releases, Homebrew or the App Store.
2. Click Update all. Each update is checked first: it has to come from the same developer, and macOS has to accept it.
3. If an app is open, choose Quit and Update or Update When I Quit It. Greypaint asks first and never quits an app on its own.
4. To go back to an older version, open the app's details and choose Roll back. The previous version is kept for you.

App Store apps appear in the same list. Click Update and Greypaint installs it itself (in beta). If that fails, it can open the App Store on that app's page instead. Homebrew formulae and global npm, pnpm and uv packages are under Tools. To have it run on its own, see how to update your Mac apps with Greypaint.

560 apps updated and checked so far. Check yours.→

A free option is Latest, which checks App Store and Sparkle apps. We compare the main options in Best Mac app updaters.