File extraction app Pacifist gets a full rewrite for macOS Monterey

Macos Monterey Review Hero (Image credit: Bryan M. Wolfe / iMore)

What you need to know

Popular macOS file extraction app Pacifist has been updated to version 4.
The new update is a complete rewrite in Swift 5.

Pacifist, a popular app for working with macOS package files, has been updated to version 4. That update brings with it a complete rewrite, with the app compatible with Apple silicon and macOS Monterey.

With support for Apple's latest processors as well as a complete Swift 5 rewrite, Pacifist 4 is now faster than ever with developer CharlesSoft saying that the update has "a focus on multi-threadedness, resulting in a lot of performance and user-experience improvements."

There's a lengthy list of changes in the release notes for Pacifist 4, with just some of the changes including:

Completely rewritten in Swift 5
Optimized for Apple Silicon
Redesigned, modernized UI
Full support for modern versions of macOS
Added command-line interface
Added browser plug-ins for Chrome and Firefox
Expanded support for analyzing existing installations, beyond simply kernel extensions
Support for Asset Catalog files
Support for Mac OS 9 Installation Tome files
Fixed some bugs that could cause certain packages not to open properly
Verify phase now correctly checks checksums for all file types, including symbolic links and Mach-O binary files
Added Preferences option to change the default setting of the "Use Administrator Privileges" check box
Added Preferences option to disable automatic opening in the Finder after extraction
Numerous performance optimizations

Pacifist is a free download with a $20 purchase required after a trial. You can download the app, and learn more, on the developer website now.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.