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MacUpdater accusing QLVideo of being a "pseudo-app" #163
Description
Not sure if it's a bug or what this warning might indicate, but figured it was worth pointing out since I've never seen this message before in 10+ years of using MacUpdater across hundreds of apps on dozens of Macs (including versions of QLVideo prior to v3.0).
I recently updated to v3.0 (now on 3.01) and encountered this odd message that I've never seen before:
MacUpdater encountered a pseudo-app that should never be scanned. Please make sure that MacUpdater never scans this or similar pseudo-apps again. More info here: https://www.corecode.io/macupdater/faq.htm#TERMSOFSERVICE
This is the relevant quote from their website:
Furthermore you may not damage our version-number-database by making MacUpdater scan pseudo-apps that you wouldn't normally see on your Mac. This includes - but is not limited to - copying (or 'symlinking') pseudo-apps out from hidden locations, system locations or other bundles, or trying to add any hidden, system or library locations to MacUpdater's Scan-Folders.
Looking inside QLVideo's app package, I see .appex extensions, a Spotlight importer, ffmpeg, and other things that also come embedded into other apps (which have never triggered this warning).
However one uncommon thing I do see - which I don't recall seeing in earlier versions of the app - is the embedded.provisionprofile. Could this be what's triggering the warning? What is that profile for?
Yes, I am aware that MacUpdater was recently discontinued. However according to the company, it should continue to work mostly fine for the near future. And it has been until I encountered this.
I am running Sequoia 15.7.5 on a silicon MacBook Pro.
Things I've tried:
- Removed the quarantine flag from QLVideo and all components.
- Added QLVideo to the appropriate Privacy & Security panes in System Prefs (Full Disk Access, Accessibility, Developer Tools, etc)
- Scanned with MalwareBytes and XProtect.
- Checked that the app is enabled in Login Items & Extensions
- Rebooted
Any ideas?
I mean sure maybe it's just a quirk, and easy to ignore.. but the geek in me is really curious as to what is triggering this, and why I've never seen this warning before in all my years of tinkering and trying out all manner of system utilities.
Most importantly of all - THANK YOU for all of your work through the years!
Activity
Marginal commentedon Feb 17, 2026
How strange. Embedded provisonprofiles are required in macOS apps for some entitlements - in QLVideo's case the
com.apple.developer.mediaextension.formatreaderandcom.apple.developer.mediaextension.videodecoderentitlements. They're quite common. On my machine:The only thing I can think of is that Media Extension .appexs are new - introduced in macOS 14 but not documented until macOS 15 I think - and still rare. Perhaps MacUpdater has not seen one outside of
/Systembefore?maolang commentedon Feb 18, 2026
I have had the same issue, as MacUpdater is essentially phasing out, I added the app as an exclusion.
I migrated to a solution essentially within using Homebrew, as most popular apps have casks for them available.
There is also Updatest (trial of 14 days and quite decently priced) which has a GUI interface and functions pretty much as a front end to Homebrew.
You need to spend some time learning the interface, and tuning what can and cannot be upgraded though it, look for the category 'adoptable'
While running it, before adopting app into Homebrew, you will also see the terminal commands used for Homebrew.
https://updatest.app