Download · Sift

More of a Terminal person?

With Homebrew installed, one command downloads the verified release and puts Sift in Applications:

brew install --cask aadixc0de/tap/sift

Homebrew handles installation and checks the download’s checksum. Apple’s first-launch check still applies — follow the steps below if it appears.

One tiny macOS detour.

Sift is a small indie app without Apple’s notarization stamp yet. The inbox is ready; the Apple paperwork isn’t. macOS may show “Apple could not verify Sift.app.” Here’s what to do.

First, move in.

Open the downloaded DMG and drag Sift into Applications.
Open Sift from Applications. If macOS shows the verification warning, dismiss it.
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and choose Open Anyway beside Sift. Confirm and authenticate if asked.
Connect your Gmail with an app password — no Google Cloud project, no consent screen.

No “Open Anyway”? Take the side door.

If you downloaded Sift from this page, compare the DMG with the SHA-256 checksum below first. Then open Terminal and paste:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sift.app

Now open Sift from Applications. This removes the quarantine flag from Sift only; it does not turn off Gatekeeper or change your Mac’s global security settings. It also does not mean Apple has reviewed the app.

The warning is expected for this unnotarized build. Apple’s guide to opening downloaded apps.

Connect Gmail

1
Turn on 2-Step Verification in your Google account settings.
2
Create an app password named Sift on the App passwords page. Google shows the 16 letter password once.
3
Paste it into Sift and press Connect.

Checksums

SHA-256 of the DMG published in v1.1.1: d8ca81fa45beca9df8ecd506ac0991f12570664c87768ec2306ea5dbdb36ece6 — read from that release's SHA256SUMS asset rather than typed by hand.

Download the published SHA256SUMS file to compare with your installer.

The release pipeline generates SHA256SUMS from the exact bytes it uploads, then re-downloads the uploaded file and verifies it while the release is still a draft. Nothing is published until that check passes, so the hash and the file cannot disagree.

Source and license

Sift is open source under the MIT License. The whole app — the Rust sync engine, the React interface, the release pipeline and this website — lives in one public repository, so you can read exactly what the build you install does with your mail, or compile it yourself.

Bug reports and feature requests go to GitHub Issues. The build steps are in the repository’s README; a local build needs macOS, Node 20+, pnpm 9+ and a stable Rust toolchain.

Updates

Sift checks GitHub for a newer release when it launches — once per launch, only when you are online — and you can turn that check off or run it by hand in Settings → Updates. Nothing downloads or installs on its own: the Updates tab shows the new version, its date and its release notes, and then you press Download update, then Install and quit to finish, then Restart Sift now. The download is verified against the public key built into the app before anything is installed; a download that fails that check is rejected, and the tab says the update could not be verified.

Download Sift