Updates settings
The Updates settings page: automatic checks, the beta channel, the current version, and what happens to your rules when an update installs.
The Updates page controls how Outbound keeps itself current. Updating itself is described in Updating Outbound; this page lists its settings.
The page is disabled while Protect these settings is on and this session is locked. See Security.
Updates
Section titled “Updates”When the updater is available, the section is titled “Updates”.
Check for updates automatically: on by default. With it on, Outbound checks the update feed once a day (every 86,400 seconds), in the background.
Include beta versions: off by default. With it on, the updater also offers releases in the beta channel.
Version shows the short version and the build you are running, as “Version” then the short version and the build in parentheses, next to a Check Now button. Check Now is disabled when a check cannot be started.
Behind the checks
Section titled “Behind the checks”Updates come from https://outboundfirewall.com/appcast.xml. Each update is EdDSA-signed and notarized. An update that carries a newer version of the network filter replaces the old filter at the next launch through the usual activation request. Your rules are saved to a snapshot just before the update installs.
That snapshot is the same backup a manual Back Up writes. Outbound keeps the newest five in a Snapshots folder beside the rules file. It also takes one at launch when the build number has changed, and skips that if a snapshot of the same transition already exists from the last 24 hours. You restore one from Settings › General › Backup, in the disclosure “Snapshots before updates”. Each row has the date and a Restore… button. The confirmation is the same “Restore Backup?” sheet as a backup file. It says “Replace N rules with M from the backup, made DATE.”, then “A added · B removed · C changed”, then “Settings and saved preferences will also be restored. Managed rules and setup progress stay on this Mac. Blocklist entries will be downloaded again. Changes that unblock connections need your approval.” The buttons are Cancel and Restore. An empty list says “Outbound saves a snapshot before each update.” See General.