Desktop updates

Brainwrite checks for updates in the background. When a new version is out, it downloads it by itself and shows a small popup at the bottom left of the window:

1. Downloading … with the percent, how much is done (for example 132.4 of 315.3 MB), about how long is left and a thin bar. You can keep working.
2. Restart to finish updating. Choose Restart: Brainwrite closes, installs the new version and opens again. Your chats and bots stay as they are. If you leave it, Brainwrite installs it by itself the next time you're away and nothing is running.

The popup's mascot works while the update downloads, is pleased when it's ready, and sleeps while Brainwrite restarts. Choose What's new in the popup to open the update card: the version you have, the main new things in the release and All release notes. Close the popup with ✕; it shows again at the update's next step. If you turned the window frame off, a round arrow button at the bottom of the sidebar also opens the card.

To check straight away, choose Check for updates in the menu that opens from your email at the bottom of the sidebar, or in Settings (the Updates page, or General → Updates in Advanced mode).

Brainwrite 2.0.27 or older: one download by hand

From 2.0.28, Brainwrite gets its updates from updates.brainwrite.app. Versions up to 2.0.27 look for them at the old address, which no longer has them, so they don't find 2.0.28. Download the latest build once from the Installation page and drag it into Applications over the existing copy. Your chats, bots and settings stay as they are, and Brainwrite updates itself again from then on.

What's new

After an update, Brainwrite shows What's new once. Its slides depend on your plan:

• Without a plan: Keep your bots working with Brainwrite Cloud, then Shared bots for your whole team.
• With a plan of your own: only Shared bots for your whole team.
• In a team, or while a free trial or a purchase is under way: it doesn't show.

Each slide shows the plan's current price. Next and Back move between the slides. Not now, or closing the window, puts it away for good.

Partner offers

Brainwrite sometimes shows offers from its partners: one card per partner, with the discount, a code and Copy code, and a button that opens the partner's site. Move between the cards with Next and Back.

They can show after an update (after What's new), when you sign in to Brainwrite Cloud, or when the app opens, until each offer ends. Once you close them, they skip the next two of those moments and show again on the third. A partner you haven't seen yet shows straight away.

Updates come with a plan

Since Brainwrite 2.0.23, the app looks for and downloads updates while you're signed in with an active plan: a paid plan, or a free trial while it runs. Without one, Settings says Updates come with an active plan (on the Updates page, or under General → Updates in Advanced mode) and offers Compare plans, where you start a plan or a free trial. Brainwrite checks for updates as soon as your plan starts.

If your plan ends, updates stop on the day its paid period ends. An update that had already downloaded can still be installed. Your chats, bots and settings stay as they are either way.

Your chats, bots and settings live outside the app, in ~/.brainwrite, so updating never removes them.

The download or preparation seems stuck

Leave the app open long enough for one complete attempt, then quit Brainwrite completely (Brainwrite → Quit, or ⌘Q) and open it again. If an update fails, Update failed — try again stays visible until you retry.

If the same version stays stuck, download the latest build from the Installation page and drag it into Applications over the existing copy. Your data is not affected.

Restart does nothing

Quit Brainwrite completely and open it again. If the version has not changed, install the latest build manually as above. The updater that runs is the one in the version you have installed, so an older build with an updater problem may need one manual install to pick up the fix.

Check your version

Choose Brainwrite → About Brainwrite in the menu bar, or About in the menu at the bottom of the sidebar. The version you are running is shown there. Settings → General → Updates shows whether a newer version is available.

Report an update problem

Open Settings → General → Diagnostics and choose Export Diagnostics…. Include your macOS version, the Brainwrite version you have and the one you were updating to, and whether it failed while downloading, preparing or restarting. Review the exported file before you send it to Support.