How do I update the desktop app?

Every platform updates a different way. On Windows the app updates itself from a button inside it, on a Mac new versions come from the App Store, and on Linux the update arrives through the package manager.

Windows

The Windows app updates itself. It never does so without being asked.

1. Open Settings in the desktop app.
2. Scroll to About. The Version row is the version you are running right now.
3. Press Check for updates.
4. If a newer version exists, the row turns into an Install button. Press it to start the download.
5. The percentage is shown while the file comes down. When it finishes, the app offers to restart, and the new version is in place after the restart.

Nothing downloads on its own. The app also asks the release server quietly, at most once every six hours, and when it finds something a strip appears across the top of the window with the same Install button. One press is enough: further presses do nothing while a download is running.

Which installer to take in the first place, and what the .msi is for, is in how to install and update the agent on Windows.

macOS 14 Sonoma and newer

That build comes from the Mac App Store and carries no updater of its own. Updates arrive through the store together with the rest of your Mac apps. Settings, then About, says so and links to the store page. The same section shows the version and the build number.

The rest of the Mac setup, from installing to the permissions macOS asks for, is in how to install and update the agent on a Mac.

macOS 12 and 13

Those Macs cannot run the App Store build, so they run the older app, the one downloaded from the website as a .dmg. It carries the same updater as the Windows app: open Settings, scroll to About, press Check for updates, then press Install if a newer version is offered.

Linux

The Linux app has no updater of its own and no Check for updates button, and it never downloads a new version by itself. The .deb and the .rpm register Worktivity's own repository while they install, so from then on the agent updates like any other package on the machine.

On Debian and Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

On Fedora and RHEL:

sudo dnf upgrade

Whether that happens without you asking depends on how the machine is set up rather than on Worktivity. To read the version you are running, open the app: it is printed on the sign-in screen, and once you are signed in it is in Settings under About. Which package to take and how to install it are in how to install and update the agent on Linux.

If the version does not change

• Update checks only run in an installed app. A copy started from a development build never finds an update, by design.
• After the restart, open Settings and read the Version row again. That number comes from the running app, not from the release page.
• A downloaded update is applied at the next start. If you closed the app instead of restarting it, the version changes the next time you open it.

You do not have to read the number out to anyone. Once you sign in, the app tells Worktivity which version it is running, and an administrator sees it in the App version column of the employee list in the web app.

Which app belongs on which computer is in the desktop app comparison. What happens to your records while an update is pending is the same as any other interruption, and is covered in what happens if your computer goes offline.