Coverage chart / Sketch

How to update Sketch on your Mac

Sketch is published as the Homebrew cask sketch, and the app can also update itself. Below is how to run that update yourself, then how Floodtide does it for you, alongside every other app on the Mac. Homebrew describes Sketch as "Digital design and prototyping platform".

Update Sketch by hand

  1. Let Sketch update itself. Open Sketch. It checks for new versions on its own, and if it has not offered one yet, look in the Sketch menu, or under Help or its preferences, for Check for Updates, then let it download and relaunch.
  2. Upgrade the Homebrew cask. If you installed Sketch with Homebrew, open Terminal and run brew upgrade --cask sketch. Homebrew downloads the current build, checks it against the checksum it publishes and replaces the app in your Applications folder.
  3. Or download it from sketch.com. Otherwise get the current build from sketch.com, which is the same download Homebrew points at. Quit Sketch, open the download and put the new Sketch 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.
brew upgrade --cask sketch

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 reads the same Homebrew record for Sketch that the brew command above does, without needing Homebrew installed, to learn which version 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.
  • Sketch 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 Sketch is checked against the checksum Homebrew publishes before anything is replaced.

If Sketch 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.

What Floodtide knows about Sketch

Floodtide reads
the Homebrew cask sketch
Developer
sketch.com
Version the source named on 18 October 2026
2026.3.1
Downloads come from
download.sketch.com
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
the checksum Homebrew publishes

Read from the source on 18 October 2026. The app reads it live.

Questions about Sketch

Does Floodtide update Sketch?

Yes. Sketch 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 Sketch beside everything else and updates the whole set in one pass.

How does Floodtide install a new version of Sketch?

It downloads the vendor's official build, verifies it against the checksum the catalogue publishes, quits Sketch if it is running, swaps the bundle, and keeps the previous version for seven days so the update can be undone.

Will updating Sketch lose my settings?

No. Floodtide replaces the application only. Preferences, licences and documents live outside it and are untouched.

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