Coverage chart / AppDetective
How to update AppDetective on your Mac
AppDetective publishes its updates through a Sparkle feed, the updater built into the app. Below is how to run that update yourself, then how Floodtide does it for you, alongside every other app on the Mac.
Update AppDetective by hand
- Check for Updates inside AppDetective. Open AppDetective, open the AppDetective menu beside the Apple menu and choose Check for Updates. Sparkle, the updater built into the app, downloads the new version, verifies it and relaunches AppDetective on it.
- If nothing is offered. Sparkle reads the feed at raw.githubusercontent.com on the schedule set in AppDetective's preferences, so a build that is out may not be offered until the next check. The menu item forces one now.
That is one app. The same walk, through a different menu or page each time, is what every other app on the Mac asks of you, which is where Floodtide comes in.
The shorter route: one click in Floodtide
Floodtide's own signed catalog lists where AppDetective's developer publishes each release, and Floodtide reads that source directly to learn which version is current. When yours is behind, the row appears under Updates with the version that is out, next to every other app on the Mac that is behind.
- The developer's own build is downloaded, with real progress.
- It is checked against a checksum where the source publishes one, otherwise against the developer signature of the copy already installed, and Gatekeeper has to accept it before anything is replaced.
- AppDetective is asked to quit politely if it is open, and never forced.
What Floodtide knows about AppDetective
- Floodtide reads
- AppDetective's Sparkle feed at raw.githubusercontent.com
- Bundle ID
- dev.hewig.AppDetective
- Needs
- macOS 14.6 or later
- Installed by Floodtide
- Yes, in one click, with the rest of your apps.
- Updates itself
- Yes, when you open it. Floodtide covers it anyway, so the Mac is checked whether or not you do.
- Each download is checked against
- a checksum where the source publishes one, otherwise the developer signature already on the installed copy, and Gatekeeper
Read from the source on 18 October 2026. The app reads it live.
Questions about AppDetective
Does Floodtide update AppDetective?
Yes. AppDetective also ships its own updater, so it can keep itself current when you launch it. Floodtide covers it anyway, because a self-updating app only updates when you happen to open it, and it tells you nothing about the other apps on the Mac. Floodtide shows AppDetective beside everything else and updates the whole set in one pass.
How does Floodtide install a new version of AppDetective?
It downloads the developer's own build and checks it before anything on your Mac changes: against a checksum where the source publishes one, otherwise by requiring the same developer signature as the copy already installed, and Gatekeeper has to accept it. Then it quits AppDetective if it is running and puts the new version in place.
Will updating AppDetective lose my settings?
No. Floodtide replaces the application only. Preferences, licences and documents live outside it and are untouched.
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