# Updates

> How DevHub checks for updates, what the channel is and how to install a new version.

DevHub looks for a new version by itself and tells you. Nothing is downloaded or installed until you ask.

[Screenshot: The Updates section of Settings with the update status, the Check now button, the release channel and two switches for downloading in the background and installing on quit. The sample data shown is made up.]

## When it checks

DevHub checks half a minute after it starts and every six hours after that, without opening Settings. When a version is available, a banner at the top of the screen says "Version N available" with **Download** and **Later**. Settings and the Dashboard count an available update. Click **Check now** in Settings > Updates to check at once.

The status line reads **up to date**, **Version N available**, **update required** or, in a build without updates, **updates disabled**.

## Install a new version

1. Click **Download**. The progress bar shows the download.
2. When it is done, click **Install and restart**. On macOS the button is **Open installer**, and you drag Vartari DevHub to Applications to finish.
3. After the restart, DevHub starts with the new version.

If an agent holds a plan step when you install, DevHub asks first, because quitting ends its session. DevHub also starts after an update with the current version already known, so it does not offer the version you just installed.

> **Caution:** After you install a new version, the first start needs an internet connection. A version installed
> while offline has no permissions until it has been online once.

## Choices

- **Channel**: **Stable**, or **Beta**, which gets releases before they are called stable. Some builds fix the channel and show it as text.
- **Download updates in the background**: off by default, so a metered connection is never spent without being asked.
- **Install on quit**: installs the downloaded update when you quit, which is the one moment a restart costs nothing.

## A required update

Some versions are marked as old. DevHub then says **Version N — update required**, or **Version N can no longer be used**, with the reason. A rule of this kind carries over a restart and cannot be avoided by being offline.

## Related

- [Settings](/devhub/features/settings/index.md)
- [Release notes](/devhub/release-notes/index.md)