Frequently asked questions

Many companies release a new version of their app to a small subset of users. Then, after some time, to another slightly larger subset. Eventually, everyone is on the new version.

The problem is that some apps like Slack and MS Teams have longer-than-usual periods between these so-called staggered releases.

The Pareto Security app waits a few days before reporting an app as outdated. This "a few days" period seems to work fine for most apps and their release cycles but not for others.

We’re looking into improving this, but as of right now, we recommend snoozing the checks for a week, so that your device finally gets that update.

Maybe you just don't see the icon in the menu bar? Do you use Bartender, Ice, or a similar MenuBar manager?

You can verify if the app is running with Activity Monitor.

Pareto Security uses a random algorithm to decide when to send updates to the Cloud Dashboard. The reason is your privacy: your team admin or your boss can't tell when you were online by looking at the Dashboard, since the app only reports occasionally.

As of 2025, the Pareto Security macOS app no longer requires a license to use and is free for anyone to use. We only charge for the Cloud Dashboard.

Login to Dashboard and go to your Account page. Alternatively, contact us and we'll sort it out for you.

Are you an admin of a Cloud Dashboard account? If not, then you don't need to login, just go to the download page and install the app.

Are you looking to recover your license instead?

If you declined an automatic update at some point, Setapp will not update the Pareto Security app until you perform the following manual step:

Open up SetApp menu, and click Check for Updates.

See staggered releases.

1. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups.
2. Select your user account and navigate to the Login Items tab.
3. Check if the app is listed and ticked. If not, add it by clicking the + button and selecting the app.
4. Restart your Mac to see if the changes take effect.

Yes, see pricing or contact us.

Apps on the App Store are sandboxed and cannot read system files, preventing the implementation of the majority of the checks.

That said, we are a registered developer with Apple, and the app is notarized. The codebase is open source and audited by third parties.

Yes, see the Responsible Vulnerability Disclosure page.

Some antivirus scanners, such as CrowdStrike Falcon, identify Pareto Security as a potential threat due to its utilisation system calls to macOS automation APIs for permission checks. You can verify we are malware free by using the VirusTotal online tool.

Furthermore, the binary is authenticated by Apple and notarised, thereby precluding the possibility of malware infection.

Finally, our software is audited by third parties on regular occasions.

By default, Pareto Security only reports recently used apps.

You can go to Pareto Security Preferences and disable Update check only for apps used in the last week so that Pareto will report all apps.

Unfortunately, it's not trivial to get data on all App Store apps, so in general we recommend using App Store's automatic updated feature those apps.

Another reason are staggered releases.

Finally, by default, Pareto Security only reports recently used apps.

All Pareto Security desktop apps are free, we only charge for the Cloud Dashboard.

Furthermore, the Team plan is free for non-profits and for open-source contributors for personal use. If you fit this description, contact us.