Freshly

Keep every app on your Mac fresh — from one place, for free.

Freshly finds the apps installed on your Mac, checks five update channels for newer versions, and installs updates after verifying every byte — from a single window, or straight from your menu bar.

Build Freshly with Xcode 26 →

Freshly is functional and actively developed. Detection and updates work across all five supported sources, with verified installs, automatic background checks, notifications, release notes, and local update history. Release automation and self-update support are ready. The next distribution step is an unsigned public beta with documented Gatekeeper approval; a Developer ID certificate is deferred until the general release. Until the first beta is published, build Freshly from source. See the roadmap.

MacUpdater, the reference tool of this category, was discontinued in January 2026 and its database dies at the end of the year. The remaining options are paid, subscription-based, or cover only a fraction of update channels. Freshly aims to be the tool the Mac community keeps for itself: fast, free, private, and open.

• Fast: local discovery completes in about a second on a typical Mac, while live network results stream into the interface as sources respond.
• Quietly automatic: checks follow a configurable schedule, recover after restarts and sleep, and retry when the network or installer is busy.
• Native: Swift 6 and SwiftUI, with a focused sidebar, dark mode, menu-bar access, and a badge for pending updates.
• Open: MIT-licensed code and reusable CC0 app definitions, reviewed and validated in public.

¹ Since macOS Tahoe 26.1, third-party tools can no longer install Mac App Store updates directly; Freshly hands you off to the App Store.

² For apps mapped to a repository by a community app definition — guessing repos from bundles would produce false matches.

Everything runs locally and Freshly has no server of its own. Sources that support it use bulk catalog downloads, limiting app-by-app disclosure. App-specific sources receive only the request required to check that app. Freshly has no account, telemetry, or crash reporting. When an update fails, you can preview and edit a locally generated, automatically redacted problem report before choosing to open a GitHub form or email draft; nothing is sent automatically.

Before replacing an app, Freshly verifies the publisher-provided EdDSA signature or checksum, performs deep code-signature validation, requires bundle identity and developer-team continuity, blocks downgrades, and asks Gatekeeper to assess the result. The previous version is retained during installation and restored automatically if anything fails.

• macOS 15 or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel

Freshly is distributed outside the Mac App Store because an updater needs to run un-sandboxed to modify other applications.

The first public beta will be available as an unsigned DMG and ZIP from GitHub, with SHA-256 checksums and explicit installation instructions. Signed and notarized builds, plus a Homebrew cask, will follow for the general release. Until the first beta is published:

git clone https://github.com/ruimiguelcolaco/freshly.git
cd freshly
open Freshly.xcodeproj   # requires Xcode 26 or later

Run the core library tests without Xcode:

swift test --package-path Packages/FreshlyCore

Run the app orchestration tests with an unsigned test host:

xcodebuild test -project Freshly.xcodeproj -scheme Freshly \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' \
  -derivedDataPath /tmp/FreshlyDerivedData \
  CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO

The package also builds a read-only CLI for scripts and CI:

swift run --package-path Packages/FreshlyCore freshly check --json

It scans the same locations and checks the same sources as the app, then writes one versioned JSON document to stdout. The report contains available updates, per-app check failures, and an unsupported-app count; it never installs anything. Set FRESHLY_GITHUB_TOKEN to raise GitHub's API limit. Because app-specific sources receive a request for the app being checked, run the command only where that network behavior is acceptable.

The easiest way to help — no Swift required — is teaching Freshly about apps it cannot match on its own: a small JSON app definition reviewed like any pull request.

For code contributions, start with CONTRIBUTING.md and the architecture overview. To add a whole new update channel, see docs/ADDING_A_SOURCE.md.

Security issues: please report privately — see SECURITY.md.

MIT — app definitions are CC0.