App auto patch — automating macOS app updates

A few weeks back I stumbled across a GitHub repo called App-Auto-Patch on LinkedIn. After reading the docs I was hooked — here's why it's the macOS app-updater I've been looking for.

A few weeks back I stumbled across (by chance, on LinkedIn) a Git repo for something called App-Auto-Patch. After a quick read it caught my attention, and I think it should catch yours too 😊.

It's essentially a wrapper around Installomator (another open-source tool that handles updates and file installation to a degree) and swiftDialog (which handles push notifications shown to users when an update is available), plus a relatively simple XML configuration.

Configuration for Intune isn't hard either. For swiftDialog you just download the pkg and upload it to Intune. With Installomator I had a bit more fun — turned the shell script (which it normally is) into a pkg. I did that for versioning and install status. Then add a script to install App-Auto-Patch (I don't remember why I didn't pkg that one too, but it works as a script), then add the configuration policy with the XML you'll find on the App-Auto-Patch GitHub, and you have automatically updated apps on every managed macOS.

This is one of the things that has helped us a lot at the company. Even for people whose memory works like a goldfish (occasionally me too…), it's one less thing to worry about.

Final tip: in that XML configuration file, add every browser you use, especially if they're not signed in. Otherwise it'll wipe all your bookmarks…