Patchly

Know what's out of date on your Mac, from the menu bar.

Source

Details

Role
Author
Started
August 2026
Language
Swift
Platform
macOS
Licence
MIT

Overview

macOS has no single answer to the question "what on this machine needs updating?". App Store apps report to the App Store, Homebrew casks report to Homebrew, and everything else ships its own Sparkle feed. Patchly asks all three.

It scans /Applications, /Applications/Utilities and ~/Applications, works out which update mechanism each app actually uses, and checks that source. Apps with an update waiting sort to the top of the list, with a badge count on the menu bar icon so you often do not need to open it at all.

It deliberately stops short of installing anything. Patchly reports status and lets you decide — the update path for a Homebrew cask and an App Store app are not the same, and silently picking one on your behalf is how things break.

Highlights

  • Aggregates three update sources: Mac App Store, Homebrew Cask, and Sparkle feeds
  • Scans /Applications, /Applications/Utilities and ~/Applications
  • Badge count on the menu bar icon — no need to open the panel
  • Refreshes on a timer and whenever the Mac wakes from sleep
  • Reports status only; never installs updates behind your back
  • Installable via Homebrew tap, or buildable from source

Built with

  • Swift 6
  • macOS
  • Sparkle
  • Homebrew

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