# Herald: App Updater for Mac | micropixels

> Herald keeps the apps and Homebrew packages you installed yourself up to date from one window, and checks each update before it replaces an app.

URL: https://micropixels.software/herald/

## Keep your apps up to date from one window.

Herald asks each publisher what is new. Before it replaces an app, it checks that the update comes from the same developer and is notarized by Apple.

[Try for free](https://micropixels.gumroad.com/l/herald) [Download](https://files.micropixels.software/herald/Herald.dmg)

[How it installs](https://micropixels.software/herald/#install)

![Herald’s Updates window: under Applications, Chrome, Claude, Dia and TestFlight, each with the version installed, the newer one, and an Update button, and Dia’s release notes beside the list.](https://micropixels.software/assets/herald/window.jpg?v=0463af7d)

### One list instead of forty update prompts.

Every app you install yourself checks for updates on its own schedule and asks in its own window. Herald checks them all in the background, tells you about each update once, and installs them all at once when you ask. The packages you installed with Homebrew are in the same list.

### It checks what it installs, and who made it.

Before Herald replaces an app, it checks the download itself. The new version has to be signed by the same developer as the copy you have, notarized by Apple, and no older than what you have. An update that fails any of these is not installed, and Herald tells you why.

#### 1. Download

From the publisher, into a temporary folder.

#### 2. Check

Developer, notarization and version, read from the new app itself.

#### 3. Quit

If the app is open, Herald asks it to quit. If it will not quit, Herald stops there.

#### 4. Replace

The old app and the new one swap places in a single step.

#### 5. Reopen

If it was running, it starts again on the new version.

If the new version will not start, Herald puts the previous one back.

### Not every update is one you should take.

A new major version can mean paying again, or going past the licence you already own. Tell Herald which updates to leave alone and it stays quiet about them, notifications included.

- **Ignore This Version**: Skips one release. Herald tells you about the next one.
- **Pin at Current Version**: Stays on the version you have until you say otherwise.
- **Hold at Current Major Version**: Takes the fixes for the version you paid for, and nothing past it. Where Herald cannot tell where the next major version begins, it stays quiet rather than guess.
- **Ignore This App**: Herald stops offering its updates and stops telling you about them.

### The rest of the job, done in the same window.

#### Release notes

Select an app and press `⌘I` to read what the update changes, beside the list. The notes come from the app’s update feed, its GitHub release or the App Store, wherever the publisher writes them.

#### App Store apps

Herald installs their updates itself, in the same list as the rest. Open in App Store takes you to an app’s page there.

#### Homebrew

Homebrew itself upgrades the packages you installed with it. Apps you installed with Homebrew are updated like any other app, checks included.

#### Checks in the background

Every hour, every 6 hours, once a day, once a week, or only when you ask. Herald checks while it is closed.

#### One notification per update

Herald tells you once about each update. Apps you have ignored, pinned or held are never mentioned.

#### Update All

One button for everything. Or set it to take applications only, or packages only.

### For the apps you already use.

Herald checks each app where its publisher actually publishes: its own update feed, its GitHub releases, its website or the App Store. Among them:

- Fork
- Capture One
- Dia
- Affinity
- Blender
- Telegram
- 1Password
- Visual Studio Code
- Spotify
- Google Chrome
- Slack
- Figma
- Firefox
- Claude
- Raycast
- Sketch
- iTerm2
- Transmit
- Screen Studio
- Keka

And thousands more.

### $15 a year

Your first week is free, and one subscription covers three Macs.

- **macOS 26** or later.
- **Notifications**, if you want to hear about updates without opening Herald.

[Try for free](https://micropixels.gumroad.com/l/herald) [Download](https://files.micropixels.software/herald/Herald.dmg)

Questions before you start? Ask on the [Support page](https://micropixels.software/support/).