Coverage chart / Silicon
Keep Silicon up to date on your Mac
Silicon is covered by Floodtide. It shows up in your update list the moment a newer version ships, and updates in one click along with everything else on this Mac. Silicon can also update itself, but only once you open it, and only itself.
How Silicon gets updated
Floodtide reads the Homebrew catalog, a community-maintained index of Mac software, to learn which version of Silicon is current. When yours is behind, the row appears under Updates with the version it will move to and the download size. Pressing Update, or Update All, does the rest:
- The vendor's own build is downloaded, several apps at a time, with real progress.
- The download is verified against the checksum the catalogue publishes.
- Silicon is asked to quit politely if it is open, and never forced.
- The bundle is swapped and the old version kept for seven days, so Undo Last Update always works.
- The replacement's code signature is checked; a build signed worse than the one you had is rolled back automatically.
Every download of Silicon is checked against the checksum Homebrew publishes before anything is replaced.
If Silicon lives in a folder macOS protects, the swap asks for your administrator password once for the whole batch, exactly as the Finder does when you install anything by hand.
Questions about Silicon
Does Floodtide update Silicon?
Yes. Silicon 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 Silicon beside everything else and updates the whole set in one pass.
How does Floodtide install a new version of Silicon?
It downloads the vendor's official build, verifies it against the checksum the catalogue publishes, quits Silicon if it is running, swaps the bundle, and keeps the previous version for seven days so the update can be undone.
Will updating Silicon lose my settings?
No. Floodtide replaces the application only. Preferences, licences and documents live outside it and are untouched.