Updates

Updates are free for everyone, with or without a license. SurfSense doesn't check for them until you allow it.

Turn on update checksCopy Anchor Link

A new install asks during setup, in Privacy choices: answer Yes to Check for updates.

If you answered No, you can still check by hand at any time. The first time, SurfSense asks Allow SurfSense to check for updates? and names the server it will ask. Allow also turns on the daily check.

Once allowed, SurfSense checks at most once a day: when it starts, or later that day if it stays open. To stop, untick App updates in Settings › Network.

Check by handCopy Anchor Link

You can check from three places:

• The title bar, on every platform. The small button beside the right-panel toggle shows Check for updates when you point at it. It spins while a check runs. It doesn't appear when your organization or a package manager handles updates, or in Docker.
• Settings › About, with Check now under App updates.
• The macOS menu bar, with SurfSense › Check for Updates….

A check from the title bar or the menu tells you the result once, in a message: SurfSense is up to date, or Couldn't check for updates. Settings › About shows the result too.

Install an updateCopy Anchor Link

When a newer version exists, SurfSense downloads it straight away. The title bar button fills a ring as it downloads, and shows the percentage when you point at it.

When the download finishes, the button turns into Update, and Settings › About says the new version is ready and installs when you restart or the next time you quit.

• Click Update in the title bar, or Restart to update in Settings › About, to install now. SurfSense restarts into the new version.
• Or carry on working. The update installs the next time you quit SurfSense.

Your data folder is not touched by an update. See data folder.

Most updates download only the parts of the app that changed, so they're much smaller than a full install. The deb and rpm packages always download in full, and so does the first update on a Mac.

What's new in each version is on the changelog.

What a check sendsCopy Anchor Link

A check asks updates.surfsense.com for the newest release for your system. If that server fails, SurfSense asks github.com directly, so an update never depends on SurfSense's own server. A check sends:

• your IP address, as every request does
• the user agent SurfSense, with no version
• the app's version, such as 2.2.4
• your system and processor, such as win32-x64
• your OS version, such as windows-11 or macos-15

No cookies and no ID. The fallback to GitHub sends only your IP address and the user agent. The update itself downloads from GitHub.

To see the last request exactly as it was sent, open Settings › About and choose Show exactly what's sent under App updates. More on this in privacy.

How you installed SurfSenseCopy Anchor Link

Most ways of installing SurfSense use the app's own installer, so the in-app updater works the same. The exception is the one-line install script on Linux with apt, which adds SurfSense's apt repository: apt then updates SurfSense.

A deb or rpm update installs as an administrator, so expect a password prompt.

If a package manager installed SurfSense, it keeps SurfSense up to date itself and the app never checks for updates. Settings › About then says where updates come from instead.

Locked by your organizationCopy Anchor Link

An administrator can turn update checks off for everyone on a computer, or point them at the organization's own update server. Then Check now is turned off and Settings › About says why, or names that server. See organization policy.

DockerCopy Anchor Link

The Docker image has no in-app updater. To update, run the install command again.

Coming from SurfSense 0.0.xCopy Anchor Link

SurfSense 2 is a new app, not an update to the old 0.0.x desktop app. The old app's updater only offers its own last version, so it never moves you to 2. Install SurfSense 2 from the downloads page.