Laptop Recent Changes Review

If you'd like to know about recent changes to your mac laptop, here are some quick tools.

Manual Checks.

Quick GUI (no Terminal)

• System Information → Installations
•  → About This Mac → System Report…
• In the sidebar: Software → Installations.
• Click the Install Date column to sort, then look at the last 3 days. (This view is backed by /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist and includes macOS updates, App Store app updates, and any .pkg installs.)

App Store updates only

• Open App Store → click your profile → Updates. You’ll see Updated Recently with per‑app dates. That alone may be enough. If you want a concise, exportable log that also includes Homebrew and other changes, run the script below.

SW To Help

Run the following:

bash bin/mac_software_changes_last3d.sh --help

And for 3d back:

bash bin/mac_software_changes_last3d.sh \
  --start-date "$(date -v-3d +%s)" \
  --end-datetime "$(date +%s)" \
  | tee ~/Desktop/changes-$(hostname)-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M).txt

For iPhones

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On the iPhone (iOS)

Apple doesn’t expose a retroactive, system‑wide “software changes” log on personal devices (that exists only via MDM). Here’s what you can get without MDM:

1. App updates in the last 3 days

• Open App Store → tap your profile (top right) → Updates.
• Scroll under Updated Recently. Each app shows the date it was updated. You can scan for items marked “Today”, “Yesterday”, or “2–3 days ago”.

2. System updates

• Settings → General → Software Update → tap More Info (when available) to see the most recent iOS update details and install date/window.
• Settings → General → About → iOS Version (tap the version row). On recent iOS, this reveals the build and sometimes install information.

3. Configuration profiles (if any)

• Settings → General → VPN & Device Management shows profiles or device management enrollments added/removed (not timestamped, but useful to confirm changes).

If you need an audit trail going forward on iOS:

• The only reliable methods are (a) enrolling the phone in an MDM (e.g., a personal Jamf/Mosyle tenant) which logs installs/updates, or (b) connecting to a Mac and using Apple Configurator 2/Console to stream and save device logs from the installd process while changes happen. iOS does not keep a user‑accessible historical install log you can fetch after the fact.

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Notes & caveats

• The Install History on macOS is authoritative for Apple updates, App Store updates, and any .pkg installs. It does not record pure drag‑and‑drop app copies unless the app bundle’s modification time changed in the last 3 days (the script captures that under “Application bundles touched”).
• Unified logs are best‑effort; they rotate and aren’t a full audit trail.
• Homebrew sections cover both formulae (CLI) and casks (GUI apps).
• Run the script as your user; it will prompt for sudo to inspect system LaunchDaemons.

If you want, I can fold the script into a minimal launchd job so each Mac drops a daily diff on your Desktop; you’ll have a continuous history to refer to.