Unobtrusive Update Notifications

Like hundreds of other Mac apps, our products use the open source Sparkle update framework to alert you to the existence of new versions. With the help of Sparkle, you can move to new versions of our apps in just a few clicks.

Though Sparkle serves us very well, it has one notable downside. Update announcements are most likely to appear at the least convenient time: right after you’ve launched the app. You want to start recording with Audio Hijack, for instance, but the app is telling you about a new version.

Sparkle’s dialog can get in the way of your work.

We’ve long wished to avoid these disruptions. With that in mind, we’re making changes to how update notifications appear throughout our apps. In the future, when the software’s timed automated check detects a newer version, it will no longer pop an obtrusive window like the one seen above.

Instead, a small “Update Available” indicator will be shown in the app’s interface. You can see it right here in Audio Hijack:

Audio Hijack displaying the new, less obtrusive update indicator

This change will provide you with more control over updating. Whenever you’re ready to update, you can click the indicator to be guided through the same speedy process as before. But if you need to get down to business, just ignore the indicator while you accomplish the desired task.1

These new update indicators have already been added to Audio Hijack and Loopback, and we’ll be bringing them to additional apps in the future. The absence of a disruptive dialog is likely to go largely unnoticed, but it’s a quality-of-life improvement we’re very glad to make.

Footnotes:

This indicator is designed to be quite subtle, but we’re mindful that you might wish to hide it entirely. To do so, click the indicator, then select “Skip for Now”. This will hide the visual until the next timed check in a few days. ↩︎