Updates and editions

LAN Share comes from lanshare.io or from the Mac App Store. Where it comes from decides how you pay, how it is updated and a few things it can do. This page is the one place that lists the differences.

Editions#

Every edition sends to and receives from every other, on every system. The Mac App Store version is made for personal use: every Pro feature, no organisation management. Organisations use the download from lanshare.io.

The full edition has every feature open without a licence key. It is not sold or published on this site; it is used for our own and partner installations.

A Microsoft Store version is on its way; like the Mac App Store version, it will be updated by the store and never check lanshare.io itself.

The macOS download is signed by SIA KV Cache (in Apple's records: KV CACHE SIA) and notarised by Apple; every file on the download page is listed with its SHA-256 checksum.

To see which version you have: Settings → About (for example 0.9.0 · build 202611031027, the build number is the date and time it was built), or lanshare --version.

How the update check works#

1. Once a day at most, shortly after LAN Share starts, the direct-download and full versions read the public file lanshare.io/releases.json. Settings → About → Check for updates looks right away.
2. Only a list signed by LAN Share. Next to releases.json it reads releases.json.sig, an Ed25519 signature made with LAN Share's release key, which is built into the app. A list without a valid signature is ignored: nothing is offered or installed from it.
3. Only its own edition. Every file in releases.json says which edition it is ("edition": "licensed" or "full"; a file without it is licensed). A licensed app is only offered licensed builds, a full one only full builds.
4. If there is a newer version for your system, you see what changed (every version since yours) and choose Install, Later or Skip this version. A version republished with a later build counts as newer too.
5. Never an older list. releases.json carries a serial that goes up with every publish, and the time it was published, both inside its signature. The app remembers the highest serial it has seen and refuses a list with a lower one (or none), so an old signed list can't be replayed to hold updates back; it says so when the list it has is over 60 days old.
6. Install downloads the file and checks its size and SHA-256 against the ones in releases.json: a download that runs past the size is stopped, and a file that does not match is never opened.
7. Then it is put in place, and LAN Share restarts. Settings, hosts and history stay as they are.
   • macOS: the new app is copied from the verified disk image next to the running one and swapped in, if it is signed by the same developer team. If the app's folder is not writable (or it runs from the disk image), the disk image opens in Finder to drag it over by hand.
   • Ubuntu / Debian: installed with apt-get after the system's password prompt, when LAN Share came from the .deb; otherwise the package opens in the Software app.
   • Windows: the new files replace the old ones next to the running program. A folder LAN Share cannot write to gets the unpacked folder shown instead.

What a check sends#

A check is two ordinary HTTPS requests, for releases.json and releases.json.sig. It carries LAN Share's version and platform in the User-Agent, for example LAN Share/0.9.0 (macOS), and, like any request, your IP address. No licence key, computer name, file names or history are sent. The Mac App Store version never makes this request. Details are in the privacy policy.

Turning it off, and the command line#

Settings → About → Check automatically switches the daily check off; you can still check by hand. The same from a terminal:

$ lanshare update check               # is there a newer version?
$ lanshare update download            # download it, check the SHA-256, print the path
$ lanshare update skip 0.9.1+202611050101   # don't remind me about this one
$ lanshare update skip --clear
$ lanshare update auto off            # no automatic checks
$ lanshare update auto                # show the current state

{
  "current": { "version": "0.9.0", "build": 202611031027 },
  "checked": true,
  "auto": true,
  "skipped": false,
  "update": {
    "version": "0.9.1",
    "build": 202611050101,
    "date": "2026-11-05",
    "changelog": [{ "version": "0.9.1", "build": 202611050101, "date": "2026-11-05", "notes": "…" }],
    "file": "lan-share-0.9.1-mac.dmg",
    "url": "https://lanshare.io/download/…",
    "size": 11049428,
    "sha256": "…",
    "key": "0.9.1+202611050101"
  },
  "error": null
}

• update is null when you are up to date; key is what update skip takes.
• --auto behaves like the app at start: it checks only when automatic checks are on and a day has passed ("checked": false otherwise).
• When lanshare.io cannot be reached, the command still exits 0 and says why in error.
• update download --json prints {"event":"progress","done","total"} lines, then {"event":"done","path","version","key"}, {"event":"up-to-date"} or {"event":"failed","message"}.

Something missing or wrong? Write to [email protected].