With the recent concerns about the popular Mac app Bartender surprising users with a mysterious new owner, it’s become clear that automatically updating apps isn’t always the best thing for security. Instead, I recommend using MacUpdater , which makes it easy to check which apps need updating, verify if they’re safe to update, and get everything up to date in one go.

Bartender's new ownership was actually announced because MacUpdater warned its users about the change. Bartender's ownership change was not announced to the public and MacUpdater had placed a warning in the app about the certificate change and the lack of information about the new owners. That's one of MacUpdater's best features.

If you install apps from outside the Mac App Store, MacUpdater is a handy tool to check if an app’s updates are safe. There’s a little i button to the right of each app listed in MacUpdater. If the button is red, the app has identified a problem with its updates. Check before installing.

If the button is blue, you can still view the release notes for the update before installing it. For added convenience, you can also move MacUpdater to the menu bar and update your apps from there.