Coverage chart / Microsoft Defender
How to update Microsoft Defender on your Mac
Microsoft Defender's developer publishes each version on their own page at res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft, and the app can also update itself. Below is how to run that update yourself, then what Floodtide does about it, alongside every other app on the Mac.
Update Microsoft Defender by hand
- Let Microsoft Defender update itself. Open Microsoft Defender. It checks for new versions on its own, and if it has not offered one yet, look in the Microsoft Defender menu, or under Help or its preferences, for Check for Updates, then let it download and relaunch.
- Download the current build from the developer. Microsoft Defender's developer publishes each release on their own site. Get the Mac build from there.
- Replace the old copy. Quit Microsoft Defender, open the download and put the new Microsoft Defender in Applications in place of the old one: a disk image is dragged across, an installer package runs its own steps. Your settings and documents live outside the app and are kept.
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.
What Floodtide does about Microsoft Defender
Floodtide's own signed catalog lists where Microsoft Defender'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 publishes the version but no download Floodtide can check, so Floodtide does not install this one itself. The update comes from Microsoft Defender's own updater, or from the developer's site, and Floodtide is what tells you the day it is due.
What Floodtide knows about Microsoft Defender
- Floodtide reads
- the developer's own page at res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft
- Bundle ID
- com.microsoft.wdav
- Needs
- macOS 14.0 or later
- Installed by Floodtide
- No. Floodtide shows the new version the day it is out; installing it is your call, from the developer.
- Updates itself
- Yes, when you open it. Floodtide covers it anyway, so the Mac is checked whether or not you do.
Read from the source on 18 October 2026. The app reads it live.
Questions about Microsoft Defender
Does Floodtide update Microsoft Defender?
Floodtide tells you when Microsoft Defender has an update. Microsoft Defender is in Floodtide's signed catalog, which reads the version its developer publishes, so a new release appears in your update list with no configuration. The developer publishes no download Floodtide can check, so the update itself comes from Microsoft Defender's own updater or the developer's site.
How does Floodtide install a new version of Microsoft Defender?
It does not install this one itself. It shows you the new version as soon as Microsoft Defender's developer publishes it, and you update from Microsoft Defender's own updater or the developer's site.
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