It seems like the time has finally come for instant, automatic app updates from the Mac App Store. Apple has rolled out a new automated update service into the brand-spanking-new Mountain Lion beta that they’ve recently seeded to developers. Instead of having to manually head to the Mac App Store, users will be able to have their apps automatically download new updates on an app by app basis.
I’ve been waiting for this kind of thing for years. AppFresh, a popular app management app, had automatic app updates built in for years, but I’ve always had a hard time getting the updates to work. AppFresh would go out and grab Apple updates, Sparkle updates, Microsoft updates, as well as widget, prefpanes, and plugins and then download and install them automagically.
The fact that it appears that Apple’s finally built in this kind of functionality makes the Mountain Lion update worth it for me. It’s funny how something so small as automatic app updates can completely make an upgrade worth it.
I can’t wait until I can stop heading to the Mac App Store to update my apps. Hopefully this kind of thing happens in the iOS App Store as well in iOS 6. That would completely make my year. No seriously, my YEAR. Not having to think about these kinds of things and being able to just open up the latest and greatest patch from developers is going to be a huge time saver for a lot of appaholics. Me included.
Hat Tip To Zach Kahn for this super awesome find.
