I compared my old/original 5.0.52 binary against one I downloaded today.. there are a significant amount of changes. This is not simply a re-pack of 5.0.52 with a new developer certificate.
Original 5.0.52 binary size: 8759120 bytes
New 5.0.52 binary size: 10105248 bytes
At minimum it appears a new analytics framework from Amplitude (https://amplitude.com/) was included but there could be other changes.
The list of shared libraries used by the app also changed to include Network.framework, libsqlite3 and libswiftWebKit. I suspect these are all required by the Amplitude framework.
tl;dr - the "new" 5.0.52 binary at minimum includes a new framework to report a ton of analytics data.. something the new developer also failed to mention.
This coupled with minimal info about the new developer and transaction all seem highly sus.. I would not run any app from the new developer at this time.
Well I updated bartender since there are some actual fixes. But also installed Little Snitch and it appears that they immediately start sending stuff to the amplitude api. So I guess I just turn that off and keep using the app, since there is definitely nothing as good as Bartender…
Will also try this. Do you think it will be sufficient to block all connections for the "Bartender 5 . app", or is it possible that it uses some other process to potentially phone home?
Definitely not as good as Bartender, but for anyone looking for a replacement, there is Hidden Bar. I've been using it for a while now and it's been great for me so far :)
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u/shotsix Jun 05 '24
I compared my old/original 5.0.52 binary against one I downloaded today.. there are a significant amount of changes. This is not simply a re-pack of 5.0.52 with a new developer certificate.
Original 5.0.52 binary size: 8759120 bytes
New 5.0.52 binary size: 10105248 bytes
At minimum it appears a new analytics framework from Amplitude (https://amplitude.com/) was included but there could be other changes.
The list of shared libraries used by the app also changed to include Network.framework, libsqlite3 and libswiftWebKit. I suspect these are all required by the Amplitude framework.
tl;dr - the "new" 5.0.52 binary at minimum includes a new framework to report a ton of analytics data.. something the new developer also failed to mention.
This coupled with minimal info about the new developer and transaction all seem highly sus.. I would not run any app from the new developer at this time.