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The download didn’t start, Bettership won’t open, a capture permission still says “Not allowed,” or checking for an update failed.

What you’ll see

  • Nothing downloaded from bettership.ai, or the Bettership desktop app won’t open.
  • In Settings → App preferences, Microphone or Screen Recording says “Not allowed.”
  • Under the Bettership row in the same place: “Couldn’t reach the update server. Check your connection and try again.” or “The update couldn’t be verified, so it wasn’t installed. Download the latest version of Bettership to update.”

Why it happens

The desktop app runs only on a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 13 or later. Live capture needs macOS permission for the microphone and Screen Recording. Updates need Bettership’s update server.

What to do

If nothing downloaded or the app won’t open, check your Mac in macOS System Settings under General → About. When Chip says Apple M1 or newer and macOS says version 13 or later, download the app again from bettership.ai/download and follow Install and sign in. On any other Mac, the app won’t open: join the waitlist on that download page. If a capture permission says “Not allowed,” fix one row at a time:
  1. Choose Settings, the gear beside your name at the bottom of the sidebar.
  2. Choose App preferences.
  3. Under System permissions, choose Open System Settings beside Microphone or Screen Recording, whichever says “Not allowed.” macOS System Settings opens on that permission’s list. Bettership is allowed when its switch is on.
  4. Switch back to Bettership. The row says “Allowed” once macOS allows it.
  5. If the switch is on and the row still says “Not allowed,” choose Bettership → Quit Bettership in the menu bar at the top of your screen.
  6. Open Bettership again from your Applications folder.
To check for an update, or to try again after an update message:
  1. In Settings → App preferences, find the Bettership row, which shows your version number.
  2. Choose Check for updates in that row. The button reads “Checking for updates…” while it checks.
  3. If the line under the row says “You’re up to date,” you have the newest version. If the button reads “Downloading update…,” wait until it reads Restart to update.
  4. Choose Restart to update.
If the line says the update server couldn’t be reached, check your internet connection and choose Check for updates again. If it says the update couldn’t be verified, install the latest version from bettership.ai/download the same way as the first time.

If that didn’t work

Email support@bettership.ai with the exact message on screen and your version number from the Bettership row. If the app won’t open, include your Mac’s chip and macOS version instead. Next: Contact support