How to upgrade?

Go to https://software.charliemonroe.net/upgrade/permute/v4/ – it contains all the information regarding upgrading.

In short:

• • if you’ve purchased Permute directly from us, then enter the license code into the upgrade form and follow onscreen instructions.
• • if you’ve purchased Permute from the App Store, there’s an upgrade tool that verifies the App Store purchase and generates an upgrade for you. It is not technically possible to provide an upgrade that would be installed from the App Store.
• • if you’re using Permute via Setapp, it will be upgraded automatically for you for free

See the link above for details.

Do I have to upgrade?

No. Definitely not. No one is going to force you. This is completely up to you. If you’re happy with Permute 3, just keep on using it, that’s absolutely fine, there are users still using Permute 2 in 2026 – 8 years after Permute 3 was released. The only caveat is that there will be no additional updates to Permute 3. If Apple breaks something in a future OS, it will not get fixed.

Do I have to pay for the upgrade?

If you’ve purchased the Permute 3 in 2026, then no. The upgrade is free, but you need to go through the upgrade steps. If you’ve purchased it earlier, then yes, it’s a paid upgrade, you get 40% off.

I want to upgrade on the App Store.

Currently, Permute 4 is not available on the App Store. This is because Apple’s review process takes some time, will require making some changes and I’m not entirely sure if these changes (which subsequently result in worse user experience) are worth it. But I’ll try to get it on the App Store as soon as I can.

Nevertheless, as Apple does not allow paid upgrades or discounts, I cannot provide you with a discount for the App Store, you will need to upgrade to a directly distributed version. Please note that I cannot migrate you between different distribution channels.

I’ve bought Permute 3 less than a year ago!

Making a line where the upgrade is paid and free is always a tough call. And I really do understand that you may be disappointed not meeting this line by just a few months (or weeks). But keep in mind that if I moved the line to include you, then there’d be someone else in the same situation. No matter where you move the line, there will be people not meeting it closely.

Unfortunately, this is similar to you buying a new computer and Apple releasing a new one next week. Developers have worked decades on finding a way to make this fair for everyone – and no one has come up with anything – other than subscriptions.

Yeah, *that* “S” word. For most people subscriptions are really annoying as they nowadays pile up, but they are generally fair to you as you pay for the app each year and that’s it – if there is an upgrade, you just move over and the subscription still covers that. But there are many people who dislike subscriptions which is why Permute is a one-time payment.

Please note that in case you are interested in this solution, I do offer Permute as a subscription: via Setapp.

Setapp (https://go.setapp.com/stp138?refAppID=219) is a subscription service for Mac apps. You can either pay monthly (or yearly) to gain access to all the 200+ apps they offer, or you can use their Single App to get Permute as a monthly or yearly subscription. Please check their website for exact pricing.

I would like to keep on using Permute 3.

No problem, just keep using it. The only caveat is that there will be no updates to Permute 3 released anymore. If Apple breaks something in a future OS, it will not get fixed.

If you are using Setapp and it upgraded your copy to Permute 4, you will need to find an older version backup e.g. in Time Machine and restore it. Make sure that you e.g. lock it or rename it to prevent Setapp from updating it again. There is currently no way for you to select a different version in Setapp. Note that I cannot provide you with a binary distributed via Setapp. 

I’m running macOS 15! Make it run on earlier OS versions!

This was a really tough call, but as Permute is not something that will break due to external changes (other than OS upgrades, but in such case you’d no longer be running an earlier OS version), I’ve decided not to support earlier OS versions as you can run Permute 3 on earlier OS versions.

Initially, the plan was to support macOS 15, but as Apple made such radical changes to the UI with macOS 26, I’ve rethought this. It would generally mean implementing and designing the UI twice. As I have experience with this from the past (macOS 10.10, then macOS 11), I know how much it impacts the app for years to come when the code has multiple UI variations. 

With Permute 4, the goal was to create the best experience possible – and that just wouldn’t be possible if the focus was split onto different UI variants.

I’m on an Intel-based computer! Make it run on it as well!

Looking forward, it just made sense not to put the time and effort into supporting Intel (as of May 2026, only 14% of users are running Intel and the number is dropping every month).

Supporting Intel is not just about a checkbox – it affects the resulting files as well – the quality of hardware-accelerated conversions on Intel just is not on par with Apple Silicon. As Permute 4 has received many changes to various presets to use more hardware acceleration, the results wouldn’t be that great.

Why did you make all of those changes?

Permute 3 has been out for 8 years during which I gathered tids and bits from Permute users about discoverability of various features as well as about how they use the app. During Permute 4 planning, I consulted a UI designer and we went through the entire UI and pointed out places that were cumbersome to use and hard to discover, the UI designer suggesting how to approach those.

Thanks to this very tedious and lengthy process, Permute 4 merges multiple features into a single workflow, making it much easier to find what you need and actually use it.

Contrary to what some users may suggest, the changes were not made just to make changes or annoy people, all of the changes were made based on user feedback and addressing particular issues with the previous UI and UX.

I really hate the new UI.

I get it. Change is hard. You may be accustomed to the old Permute. The old icon. I really understand this.

Unfortunately, there’s really not much that I can do about this. The time to address this was during the beta testing – and a few UI issues were indeed addressed during the beta testing. I’ve tried to put out the information about beta testing: I’ve sent out an email about that, Permute 3 showed a dialog about it.

Also, I cannot stress enough, that there simply is no single UI that would please everyone. I’ve been developing apps for over 20 years now and I realize this with every single app launch and upgrade – no matter what you do, there will always be someone who dislikes it. That’s just inevitable. I am really sorry that it’s you in particular, but if I would change it to your liking, there’d be another person who’d dislike that…

That said, I do realize that I’m just a human – not everything I do is perfect and there is always room for improvement. And I am more than happy to improve the app. So if there’s something that you feel should be somehow improved, definitely submit a report from within the app and we can discuss it. But please, don’t just write to me that you hate something – I cannot fix you hating something. I always welcome constructive criticism – but it needs to be constructive, describe the issue that you’re having with it.

I don’t like the icon. 

As per above. I get it and again:

Also, I cannot stress enough, that there simply is no single app icon that would please everyone. I’ve been developing apps for over 20 years now and I realize this with every single app launch and upgrade – no matter what you do, there will always be someone who dislikes it. That’s just inevitable. I am really sorry that it’s you in particular, but if I would change it to your liking, there’d be another person who’d dislike that…

Can’t you add a few icons to choose from?

No. Firstly, I do not have an in-house graphic designer, the icon was comissioned to a graphic designer and well, you know, they need to make a living as well – each icon is actually quite an investment and it took two months to get from sketches to the final icon.

Also, nowadays, it’s not just about a single bitmap image, you have the icon layered and rendered dynamically with liquid glass (see https://developer.apple.com/icon-composer/). And dark mode. And clear mode. And tinted mode. And whatever mode Apple invents next.

And aside from all of that, it’s not currently possible to detect which mode is currently selected. Apple does not provide a way for the app to determine if you have clear icons enabled. Or dark icons. Any app that allows changing icons does not have a liquid glass icon and does not support all icon modes.

It has become way too complex for me to offer a way to change the icon.