Is this Mac app still maintained?
The date an app last shipped a release is the closest thing to a public signal of whether anyone is still working on it. It is a weaker signal than it looks: a small utility that does one thing correctly can go two years without a release because there is nothing left to fix.
What the date is
The date the current version was actually released, not the date we added the app or last looked at it. Those are separate dates and the listing shows them separately, because conflating them turns our own backlog into a claim about somebody else's app.
Read together with what the app is, the date starts to mean something. Anything with a network protocol, a login, or a browser engine inside it needs regular releases just to keep working. A menu bar clock does not.
How we read it
In order of preference: the app's own Sparkle update feed, which is the mechanism most independent Mac apps use to ship updates and which carries a dated entry per release; its GitHub releases where the app is developed in the open; or its App Store entry.
Each of those is the developer's own publication rather than an inference, and every listing with a release date links to the feed the date came from.
What it does not mean
A long gap is not proof of abandonment, and this site does not use the word. What an old date establishes is that no new version has been published, which is a fact. Whether that means finished, quietly maintained or genuinely dead is a judgement, and it is yours.
Equally, a recent release is not evidence of a healthy app. A release last week can be a single string change.
A blank date means we could not find a feed, which happens most often with apps distributed as a direct download and no update mechanism. It is a gap in our reading, not a finding about the app.
Questions
How long without an update means a Mac app is abandoned?
There is no reliable threshold. Apps with a network service or a browser engine inside them need frequent releases, while a single-purpose utility can be complete. Two years is the point where this site flags the gap without calling it abandonment.
Where does the release date come from?
From the app's own Sparkle update feed where it has one, its GitHub releases, or its App Store entry. Every listing links to the source the date was read from.
Is a Mac app safe to use if it has not been updated in years?
It depends on what it touches. An unmaintained app that handles files from other people, or connects to a service, carries risk that a self-contained utility does not. Something else to check is whether it still has an Apple Silicon build.