macOS Auto-update Failure - Update now Button Unresponsive

[baboribo]

Operating system

macOS Tahoe 26 Developer Beta 1 (26.0 Beta (25A5279m))

YouTube Music Desktop App Version

v0.17.0

Bug description

Issue Summary

The auto-update feature works perfectly on Windows but fails to function on macOS. When an update is available and the user clicks the "Update now" button, nothing happens on macOS, while Windows automatically installs the update.

Expected Behavior

• When an update is detected, clicking the "Update now" button should automatically download and install the update, similar to how it works on Windows.

Actual Behavior

• The "Update now" button appears when an update is available
• Clicking the button does nothing - no download, no installation, no response
• The button remains clickable but non-functional

Additional Information

This has been an ongoing issue that has persisted across multiple versions. I will attach a video demonstrating the problem to provide visual confirmation of the bug.

Note: This is not a macOS version-specific issue. While I'm currently running macOS Tahoe 26 Developer Beta 1, this problem also existed on stable macOS versions.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9c5f2d92-6fff-472d-a0a4-64b17a276674

Steps to reproduce

1. Wait for an update notification to appear in ytmdesktop2 on macOS
2. Click the "Update now" button
3. Observe that nothing happens - no update process begins
4. Compare with Windows behavior where the same action triggers automatic installation

Relevant log output

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @baboribo! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the ytmdesktop2 team.

There aren’t any existing issues or discussions about this macOS auto-update problem in the repo. The update system uses electron-updater and is designed to be cross-platform, but the code doesn’t handle macOS-specific requirements like app notarization or ensuring the app is running from /Applications. On macOS, if the app isn’t properly signed, notarized, or is run from the DMG instead of being moved to /Applications, auto-update will silently fail—this is a common pitfall with Electron apps on macOS. The UI and IPC wiring for the "Update now" button are working, but the update process itself fails without visible errors, likely due to these missing macOS requirements. Improving error handling and surfacing update errors in the UI would help clarify what’s going wrong for Mac users.
You can see the relevant implementation details in the update provider code and update UI.
If you want to troubleshoot further, check if the app is signed, notarized, and running from /Applications, as these are required for auto-update to work on macOS.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[Venipa]

I've refactored the updater and it will be available in the next stable version, question is after installing the new version if it still whitelisted by macos otherwise people need to run the xattr command everytime after an update. I'll see if i can get a developer license from apple...

[baboribo]

I've refactored the updater and it will be available in the next stable version, question is after installing the new version if it still whitelisted by macos otherwise people need to run the xattr command everytime after an update. I'll see if i can get a developer license from apple...

The updater interface has been significantly improved and the "Download" button now works properly (file downloads successfully). However, there's still an issue with the final step.

When I click "Install Now", some interface briefly appears for about 0.3 seconds and then immediately disappears. The actual app update doesn't complete, even though the file was downloaded.

It seems like the installation process fails at the final step. Could this also be related to the signing/notarization issue? I've recorded a video demonstrating this behavior and will attach it to show exactly what happens.

The file is installed (see terminal screenshot), but the update does not actually take effect. Please refer to the video for the actual behavior.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/38b20583-9847-4733-9b34-465853e095c1

[Venipa]

thanks @baboribo ill look into it on my macbook later

[Venipa]

ok quick update, seems like to be an issue on both sides, app needs to be notarized (costs 99€/year for a dev license) or apple needs to undo these changes about a signed app to run without issues. i'll try some configs in hope it gets resolved without the need to pay the license fee for just mac.