This Tool Updates All Your Mac Apps With One Click
With recent concerns surrounding the popular Mac app Bartender surprising users with a mysterious new owner, it’s clear that automatic app updates aren’t always good for security. Instead, I suggest using MacUpdater , which makes it easy to check which apps need updating, make sure they’re safe to update, and update them all at once.
Why MacUpdater is a great tool for updating applications
Bartender’s new owner actually became known because MacUpdater alerted its users to the change . The change in ownership of Bartender was not publicly announced, and MacUpdater posted a warning in the application about the certificate change and the lack of information about the new owners. This is one of the best features of MacUpdater.
If you install apps from outside the Mac App Store, MacUpdater is a useful tool for checking the security of app updates. To the right of every application listed in MacUpdater is a tiny “i” button. If the button is red, it means the app has detected a problem with updates. Please review it before installing.
If the button is blue, you can still view the update’s release notes before installing it. For added convenience, you can also move MacUpdater to your menu bar and update your apps from there.
How to use MacUpdater
Once MacUpdater is downloaded and installed, it will scan your Mac to check what applications are installed on your computer. The program will then quickly show you which apps are updated and which are not. From here, the free license will only allow you to update 10 apps, but $9.37 will get you unlimited updates.
When you’re ready to update, click the Update App or Update App button to update each app in the list individually, or the Select QuickUpdate Apps button to select and update multiple apps at once. Most apps won’t have any problems, but some may require you to enter an administrator password. Otherwise the whole process goes smoothly.
As for why some apps say “Update” instead of “Update” , updates are for major version upgrades, which may require you to purchase a new license.
The MacUpdater Pro version, which costs $21.87, also allows you to schedule apps to update automatically, although I still recommend checking apps before updating them.
Some of my favorite apps, like Caliber , typically require me to manually download and install each new version. Thanks to MacUpdater, this process is done with one click. This saved me a lot of time.
Some areas for improvement
My biggest complaint with MacUpdater is its user interface. The app looks a bit dated and could use a few design changes to make it easier to use. For example, the aforementioned i button is too small and its color is difficult to see correctly. I’m sure there’s a better way to highlight apps that shouldn’t be updated.
I also encountered a bug where the app freezes completely. When I tried to move MacUpdater to the menu bar, one of the options listed was “Nowhere”, which hides the application from the dock and menu bar. I accidentally selected this and it caused the app to disappear. I could only access it from the Settings menu, and even force quitting didn’t bring it back. Luckily, rebooting fixed the problem.
Don’t forget the student discount
$9.37 is a pretty good deal to start with, but if you’re a student or live outside the world’s 40 richest countries, you can email the developers and get a 40% discount. This is a really good deal for a useful app, but remember that MacUpdater relies heavily on server-side maintenance, meaning the app won’t run all the time.
The developers have set a deadline for MacUpdater 3 of January 2026. When it expires, you will have to pay again for the next version. I still think it’s a good price, but you should look at the business model before purchasing.