The Mac App Store and Homebrew are two of the most common ways Mac apps get installed, and they update in completely different ways. If you use both, it helps to understand what each one controls, when updates actually happen, and why an app can be “up to date” in one and stale in the other.
Mac App Store updates
App Store apps are tied to your Apple Account. Apple reviews, signs, and distributes every build, and updates are delivered through the App Store app.
- How it updates: automatically in the background, or manually from the Updates list in the App Store.
- What you control: toggle automatic updates in System Settings → App Store.
- Trust model: high. Every build is sandboxed where required, notarized, and signed by Apple's distribution pipeline.
- Limitation: only covers apps actually installed from the App Store, which is a minority of what most power users run.
Homebrew updates
Homebrew is a command-line package manager. Formulae are command-line tools and libraries; casks are GUI apps installed into your Applications folder.
- How it updates: you run
brew updateto refresh the catalog, thenbrew upgradeto upgrade installed packages. Nothing updates until you run it. - What you control: everything — Homebrew never updates apps on its own unless you schedule it.
- Trust model: good but different. Homebrew downloads from each project's official source and checks a checksum, but it is not gated by Apple review.
- Limitation: a cask app updated outside Homebrew (by its own built-in updater) can drift out of sync with what Homebrew thinks is installed.
Side by side
- Who triggers the update: App Store can be automatic; Homebrew is manual by default.
- What gets covered: App Store covers only its own apps; Homebrew covers whatever you installed through it.
- Where apps live: both can place GUI apps in
/Applications; Homebrew also manages CLI tools. - Verification: App Store relies on Apple's signing and review; Homebrew relies on source URLs and checksums.
How to keep both current
Practically, keeping a Mac current means doing both: let the App Store handle its apps, and run Homebrew regularly for the rest. The gap is everything that comes from neither — apps with their own Sparkle updater, vendor tools, and direct downloads. That is exactly the blind spot that makes a single inventory useful.
macCurrent shows App Store apps, Homebrew formulae and casks, and the other update sources together in one reviewable list, so you can see at a glance what is current and what is behind. Download the free beta or read the full guide to updating Mac apps.