One-click Disconnect all
When someone is connected to your Mac, a red action appears at the top of the HearthGate menu. Click it and every live remote session ends in under a second.
HearthGate 1.4 is live
When you say "quit," your remote sessions actually end.
HearthGate 1.4 closes a quiet gap in how the Mac handles remote sessions. Quitting the menubar app used to leave Apple's built-in Screen Sharing sessions alive in the background. v1.4 gives you two clean ways to take control: a one-click emergency disconnect from the menubar, and a smarter Quit dialog that asks what you really want before the app closes.
Quit dialog with intent
Closing HearthGate while remote sessions are active now opens a clear prompt: Disconnect & Quit, Cancel, or Quit anyway.
Disconnect notices in order
When a remote user signs off, HearthGate shows the VNC disconnect first, then the SSH session ending shortly after, matching what actually happened.
More reliable session cleanup
A new safety layer catches sessions that might have slipped past app tracking, making disconnects reliable across edge cases found during testing.
Session control
Take back control of every remote session.
The important change is simple: HearthGate now treats quitting and emergency disconnect as deliberate session-control moments, not passive app lifecycle events.
Fast exit
Before stepping away
Use Disconnect all before handing the Mac to someone else, leaving a desk, or switching contexts after remote support.
No silent surprise
Before closing the app
If sessions are active, HearthGate asks whether to disconnect and quit, cancel, or quit while leaving sessions alone.
Clear timeline
After a user signs off
The visible notification order now matches the way the session ends: viewer first, tunnel second.
Operational examples
When this matters
Small session-control details become important exactly when you want the Mac to obey quickly.
Use case
Something looks off
You see a remote session you do not recognize. Open the menubar, hit Disconnect all, then review keys and logs after the Mac is quiet.
Use case
You are handing over the Mac
Before another person uses the machine locally, end every live remote session from the menu instead of trusting each viewer to close cleanly.
Use case
You quit HearthGate in a hurry
If someone is still connected, the Quit dialog makes the choice explicit so you do not leave Screen Sharing alive by accident.
Polish and reliability
The session timeline now feels less mysterious.
v1.4 is not a giant feature dump. It is a control release: clearer quit behavior, stronger disconnect coverage, and notifications that match the real session order.
Release notes at a glance
- Red menubar action appears only when live remote sessions exist.
- Quit now asks what to do with active remote sessions before closing.
- VNC viewer disconnected appears before SSH session ended, with a short delay that matches the actual teardown.
- Extra cleanup coverage handles session-tracking edge cases discovered during internal testing.
HearthGate 1.4