mas cannot see an app it installed

[jchonig]

Configuration

jch@jch-m4[530]:~$ mas config
mas ▁▁▁▁ 5.0.2
slice ▁▁ arm64
slices ▁ arm64
dist ▁▁▁ homebrew/core/mas
origin ▁ https://github.com/mas-cli/mas.git
rev ▁▁▁▁ 9ba2cf5c435251c8459e55d7228c4ef896ed0e4f
swift ▁▁ 6.2.3 (swiftlang-6.2.3.3.21 clang-1700.6.3.2)
driver ▁ 1.127.14.1
store ▁▁ US
region ▁ US
macos ▁▁ 26.2 (25C56)
mac ▁▁▁▁ Mac16,8
cpu ▁▁▁▁ Apple M4 Pro
arch ▁▁▁ arm64

Bug description

Mas occasionally doesn't detect that it installed an application. See example below.

This is inconsistent. I have three MBPs with a consistent Homebrew bundle file listing mas apps.

On one M2 MBP everything is fine and all apps are shown as installed. On an M4 MBP Meshtastic has this problem and is re-installled every time I run brew bundle install. On a Intel MBP Bitwarden has this problem.

This is not new with 5.0.2, it's been happening for months.

jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ ls /Applications/Meshtastic.app/
ls: /Applications/Meshtastic.app/: No such file or directory
jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ mas info 1586432531
Meshtastic 2.7.6 [Free]
By: Meshtastic LLC
Released: 2025-12-23
Minimum OS: 14.5
Size: 20.1 MB
From: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/meshtastic/id1586432531?uo=4
jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ mas install 1586432531
==> Downloading Meshtastic (2.7.6)
==> Downloaded Meshtastic (2.7.6)
==> Installing Meshtastic (2.7.6)
==> Installed Meshtastic (2.7.6)
jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ ls /Applications/Meshtastic.app/
Contents/
jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ mas list
1352778147  Bitwarden     (2025.12.0)
1551509202  Days          (1.11.0)
 732710998  Enpass        (6.11.17)
 982710545  Forecast Bar  (5.8.10)
 288545208  Instapaper    (9.3.1)
6477840170  Orb           (1.3.7)
 403504866  PCalc         (4.11.2)
6469021132  PDFgear       (2.20)
1451685025  WireGuard     (1.0.16)
 497799835  Xcode         (26.2)
jch@jch-m4[499]:~$ mas install 1586432531
==> Downloading Meshtastic (2.7.6)
==> Downloaded Meshtastic (2.7.6)
==> Installing Meshtastic (2.7.6)
==> Installed Meshtastic (2.7.6)

Is there more output I can provide to debug this?

Steps to reproduce

See example in previous section

[rgoldberg]

@jchonig Thanks for the info.

mas finds installed apps via Spotlight MDS metadata.

The Spotlight MDS metadata is refreshed by a background process.

mas starts a Spotlight metadata refresh (by calling mdimport on each updated app folder) after it installs/updates, but it's asynchronous; there's no way (that I've found) to wait for the refresh to finish. There's thus a delay of a second or two before Spotlight updates (maybe it's longer on other Macs than mine), and before mas list will see the change.

Your problem seems to be permanent, instead of only for a few seconds after an install/update, so it would be useful to get the output of the following commands (using your example of ADAM ID 1586432531 & path /Applications/Meshtastic.app):

ls -lA /Applications/Meshtastic.app/Contents/_MASReceipt
mdls /Applications/Meshtastic.app
mdfind 'kMDItemAppStoreAdamID == 1586432531'

mdimport /Applications/Meshtastic.app

# wait 10 seconds, then run the first 3 commands again

Thanks for helping to investigate this.

[jchonig]

jch@jch-m4[497]:~$ ls -lA /Applications/Meshtastic.app/Contents/_MASReceipt
total 0
ls: /Applications/Meshtastic.app/Contents/_MASReceipt: Permission denied
jch@jch-m4[498]:~$ sudo ls -lA /Applications/Meshtastic.app/Contents/_MASReceipt
Password:
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 root  wheel  4832 Dec 29 09:52 receipt
jch@jch-m4[499]:~$ mdls /Applications/Meshtastic.app
_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions  = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames              = (
    "Meshtastic.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory            = "Utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType        = "public.app-category.utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreIsAppleSigned       = 1
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier          = "gvh.MeshtasticClient"
kMDItemContentCreationDate         = 2025-12-21 20:27:50 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2025-12-21 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate     = 2025-12-29 14:52:54 +0000
kMDItemContentType                 = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree             = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemCopyright                   = ""
kMDItemDateAdded                   = 2025-12-29 14:52:54 +0000
kMDItemDescription                 = ""
kMDItemDisplayName                 = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier          = 0
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures     = (
    arm64,
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate         = 2025-12-29 14:52:54 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate              = 2025-12-21 20:27:50 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode               = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags               = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon             = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible                 = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden         = 1
kMDItemFSIsStationery              = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                     = 0
kMDItemFSName                      = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                 = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID              = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID               = 0
kMDItemFSSize                      = 48175594
kMDItemFSTypeCode                  = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking     = 2025-12-29 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKeywords                    = ""
kMDItemKind                        = "Application"
kMDItemLogicalSize                 = 48175594
kMDItemPhysicalSize                = 48476160
kMDItemVersion                     = "2.7.6"
jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ mdfind 'kMDItemAppStoreAdamID == 1586432531'
jch@jch-m4[501]:~$ mdimport /Applications/Meshtastic.app


Waited about 30-60 seconds here.


jch@jch-m4[502]:~$ sudo ls -lA /Applications/Meshtastic.app/Contents/_MASReceipt
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 root  wheel  4832 Dec 29 09:52 receipt
jch@jch-m4[502]:~$ mdls /Applications/Meshtastic.app
_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions  = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames              = (
    "Meshtastic.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory            = "Utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType        = "public.app-category.utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreIsAppleSigned       = 1
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier          = "gvh.MeshtasticClient"
kMDItemContentCreationDate         = 2025-12-21 20:27:50 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2025-12-21 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate     = 2025-12-29 14:52:54 +0000
kMDItemContentType                 = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree             = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemCopyright                   = ""
kMDItemDateAdded                   = 2025-12-29 14:52:54 +0000
kMDItemDescription                 = ""
kMDItemDisplayName                 = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier          = 0
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures     = (
    arm64,
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate         = 2025-12-29 14:52:54 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate              = 2025-12-21 20:27:50 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode               = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags               = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon             = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible                 = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden         = 1
kMDItemFSIsStationery              = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                     = 0
kMDItemFSName                      = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                 = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID              = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID               = 0
kMDItemFSSize                      = 48175594
kMDItemFSTypeCode                  = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking     = 2025-12-29 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKeywords                    = ""
kMDItemKind                        = "Application"
kMDItemLogicalSize                 = 48175594
kMDItemPhysicalSize                = 48476160
kMDItemVersion                     = "2.7.6"
jch@jch-m4[502]:~$ mdfind 'kMDItemAppStoreAdamID == 1586432531'

And here it is for Bitwarden on the Intel MBP:

jch@jch-imbp[496]:~$ ls -lA /Applications/Bitwarden.app/Contents/_MASReceipt/
total 0
ls: /Applications/Bitwarden.app/Contents/_MASReceipt/: Permission denied
jch@jch-imbp[497]:~$ sudo ls -lA /Applications/Bitwarden.app/Contents/_MASReceipt/
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 root  wheel  4826 Dec 29 09:47 receipt
jch@jch-imbp[498]:~$ mdls /Applications/Bitwarden.app
_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions  = "Bitwarden.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames              = (
    "Bitwarden.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory            = "Productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType        = "public.app-category.productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreIsAppleSigned       = 1
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier          = "com.bitwarden.desktop"
kMDItemContentCreationDate         = 2025-12-05 21:48:00 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2025-12-05 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate     = 2025-12-29 14:47:23 +0000
kMDItemContentType                 = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree             = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemCopyright                   = "Copyright © 2015-2025 Bitwarden Inc."
kMDItemDateAdded                   = 2025-12-29 14:47:23 +0000
kMDItemDescription                 = ""
kMDItemDisplayName                 = "Bitwarden"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier          = 0
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures     = (
    arm64,
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate         = 2025-12-29 14:47:23 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate              = 2025-12-05 21:48:00 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode               = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags               = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon             = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible                 = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden         = 1
kMDItemFSIsStationery              = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                     = 0
kMDItemFSName                      = "Bitwarden.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                 = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID              = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID               = 0
kMDItemFSSize                      = 598551404
kMDItemFSTypeCode                  = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking     = 2025-12-29 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKeywords                    = ""
kMDItemKind                        = "Application"
kMDItemLogicalSize                 = 598551404
kMDItemPhysicalSize                = 599310336
kMDItemVersion                     = "2025.12.0"
jch@jch-imbp[499]:~$ mdfind 'kMDItemAppStoreAdamID == 1352778147'
jch@jch-imbp[500]:~$ mdimport /Applications/Bitwarden.app
jch@jch-imbp[501]:~$ sleep 120
jch@jch-imbp[502]:~$ sudo ls -lA /Applications/Bitwarden.app/Contents/_MASReceipt/
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 root  wheel  4826 Dec 29 09:47 receipt
jch@jch-imbp[502]:~$ mdls /Applications/Bitwarden.app
_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions  = "Bitwarden.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames              = (
    "Bitwarden.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreCategory            = "Productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType        = "public.app-category.productivity"
kMDItemAppStoreIsAppleSigned       = 1
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier          = "com.bitwarden.desktop"
kMDItemContentCreationDate         = 2025-12-05 21:48:00 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2025-12-05 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate     = 2025-12-29 14:47:23 +0000
kMDItemContentType                 = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree             = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemCopyright                   = "Copyright © 2015-2025 Bitwarden Inc."
kMDItemDateAdded                   = 2025-12-29 14:47:23 +0000
kMDItemDescription                 = ""
kMDItemDisplayName                 = "Bitwarden"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier          = 0
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures     = (
    arm64,
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate         = 2025-12-29 14:47:23 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate              = 2025-12-05 21:48:00 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode               = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags               = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon             = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible                 = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden         = 1
kMDItemFSIsStationery              = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                     = 0
kMDItemFSName                      = "Bitwarden.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                 = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID              = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID               = 0
kMDItemFSSize                      = 598551404
kMDItemFSTypeCode                  = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking     = 2025-12-29 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKeywords                    = ""
kMDItemKind                        = "Application"
kMDItemLogicalSize                 = 598551404
kMDItemPhysicalSize                = 599310336
kMDItemVersion                     = "2025.12.0"
jch@jch-imbp[502]:~$ mdfind 'kMDItemAppStoreAdamID == 1352778147'

From the data you can see that Meshtastic has only been a problem for a week or so. Bitwarden was for longer.

Thanks.

Jeff

[rgoldberg]

Thanks for all the info.

Can you try to rebuild your whole Spotlight MDS for your main drive by running:

sudo mdutil -Ei on /

It might take some time to complete in the background. I don't know how quickly the /Applications folder is processed relative to other parts of your main drive.

[jchonig]

I kicked that off, how can I tell if it's done?

jch@jch-m4[500]:~$ time sudo mdutil -Ei on /
Password:
/:
	Indexing enabled.

Thanks.

Jeff

[rgoldberg]

Thanks for trying the command.

I imagine that most of the apps should index around the same time, so mas list should either show all apps or none, assuming that an MDS rebuild will actually solve this issue. But maybe apps can be far apart in the rebuild queue. Unfortunately, I don't know.

I don't know how to know when the rebuild is done.

All I could do is regurgitate whatever AI/search results say for something like "how to know when a spotlight reindex via mdutil completes", so it's probably better for you to read their answers directly rather than for me to attempt to relay the info, as I might garble it.

Please let me know how it pans out. Sorry I don't have useful info about MDS rebuilds.

[jchonig]

Searching gave me some things to try. It actually only took a few minutes on the M4. But the result was the same.

So then I uninstalled again (using AppCleaner) and installed from the App Store. It installed, but then said there was an update so I clicked the update button.

Now mas is happy.

I re-ran the status commands in case that is useful:

jch@jch-m4[516]:~$ sudo ls -lA /Applications/Meshtastic.app/Contents/_MASReceipt
total 8
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  4816 Dec 29 18:09 receipt
jch@jch-m4[516]:~$ mdls /Applications/Meshtastic.app
_kMDItemDisplayNameWithExtensions       = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemAlternateNames                   = (
    "Meshtastic.app"
)
kMDItemAppStoreAdamID                   = 1586432531
kMDItemAppStoreCategory                 = "Utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreCategoryType             = "public.app-category.utilities"
kMDItemAppStoreHasReceipt               = 1
kMDItemAppStoreInstallerVersionID       = "879094249"
kMDItemAppStoreIsAppleSigned            = 1
kMDItemAppStoreParentalControls         = "4+"
kMDItemAppStorePurchaseDate             = 2025-12-29 23:09:15 +0000
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptIsMachineLicensed = 0
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptIsRevoked         = 0
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptIsVPPLicensed     = 0
kMDItemAppStoreReceiptType              = "Production"
kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier               = "gvh.MeshtasticClient"
kMDItemContentCreationDate              = 2025-12-21 20:27:50 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking      = 2025-12-21 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate          = 2025-12-29 23:09:16 +0000
kMDItemContentType                      = "com.apple.application-bundle"
kMDItemContentTypeTree                  = (
    "com.apple.application-bundle",
    "com.apple.application",
    "public.executable",
    "com.apple.localizable-name-bundle",
    "com.apple.bundle",
    "public.directory",
    "public.item",
    "com.apple.package"
)
kMDItemCopyright                        = ""
kMDItemDateAdded                        = 2025-12-29 23:09:06 +0000
kMDItemDescription                      = ""
kMDItemDisplayName                      = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemDocumentIdentifier               = 0
kMDItemExecutableArchitectures          = (
    arm64,
    "x86_64"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate              = 2025-12-29 23:09:16 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate                   = 2025-12-21 20:27:50 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode                    = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags                    = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon                  = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible                      = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden              = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery                   = 0
kMDItemFSLabel                          = 0
kMDItemFSName                           = "Meshtastic.app"
kMDItemFSNodeCount                      = 1
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID                   = 0
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID                    = 0
kMDItemFSSize                           = 1
kMDItemFSTypeCode                       = ""
kMDItemInterestingDate_Ranking          = 2025-12-29 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemKeywords                         = ""
kMDItemKind                             = "Application"
kMDItemLogicalSize                      = 48180410
kMDItemPhysicalSize                     = 27738112
kMDItemVersion                          = "2.7.6"
jch@jch-m4[516]:~$ mdfind 'kMDItemAppStoreAdamID == 1586432531'
/Applications/Meshtastic.app
jch@jch-m4[516]:~$ mas list
1352778147  Bitwarden     (2025.12.0)
1551509202  Days          (1.11.0)
 732710998  Enpass        (6.11.17)
 982710545  Forecast Bar  (5.8.10)
 288545208  Instapaper    (9.3.1)
1586432531  Meshtastic    (2.7.6)
6477840170  Orb           (1.3.7)
 403504866  PCalc         (4.11.2)
6469021132  PDFgear       (2.20)
1451685025  WireGuard     (1.0.16)
 497799835  Xcode         (26.2)

[rgoldberg]

Installing from the App Store installed one version, but then another version was immediately available from the App Store?

Do you know what the versions were?

Did you try mas list, mdls …, etc. in between the install & the update?

The version seems the same (2.7.6) throughout the whole process, so I'm not sure exactly what's up.

Any info that might point to why this occurred?

Otherwise, we'll probably need to chalk it up to a transient problem.

Did you use AppCleaner or any other tools on the app(s) after installing, besides the uninstall that you performed?

[jchonig]

Installing from the App Store installed one version, but then another version was immediately available from the App Store?

Correct.

Do you know what the versions were?

No, unfortunately.

Did you try mas list, Mel's …, etc. in between the install & the update?

No

The version seems the same (2.7.6) throughout the whole process, so I'm not sure exactly what's up.

I repeated the process on the Intel MBP where both Bitwarden and Meshtastic were having the problem. I did not get the Install and Update on Meshtastic, they both went to the latest versions (Intel MBP shown)

1352778147  Bitwarden     (2025.12.0)
1551509202  Days          (1.11.0)
 732710998  Enpass        (6.11.17)
 982710545  Forecast Bar  (5.8.10)
 288545208  Instapaper    (9.3.1)
1586432531  Meshtastic    (2.7.6)
6477840170  Orb           (1.3.7)
 403504866  PCalc         (4.11.2)
6469021132  PDFgear       (2.20)
1451685025  WireGuard     (1.0.16)

Any info that might point to why this occurred?

No.

Otherwise, we'll probably need to chalk it up to a transient problem.

I wonder if this will re-occur with the next update. We should have 2026.1.0 from Bitwarden soon.

Did you use AppCleaner or any other tools on the app(s) after installing, besides the uninstall that you performed?

No, I used AppCleaner to delete them and then emptied the trash. I had tried that before to see if emptying the trash affected mas, but it did not.

[rgoldberg]

Thanks again for all the info.

I assume that you'll use mas update in the future, instead of mas install.

Please let me know about the outcomes of future updates for these apps, or about any failures for any other apps. And please don't update any failures directly via the App Store until after we've had a chance to investigate the situation more, though I don't right now know exactly what we can do.

Hopefully, either we'll resolve the mystery quickly, or it won't happen again.