Mac App Store

By MacRumors Staff on August 27, 2024

Introduced in 2010, the Mac App Store is Apple's digital software distribution platform for OS X applications that run on Mac machines.

The Mac App Store offers a wide range of games and apps from both Apple and third-party developers. It is also used to distribute new versions of OS X, security fixes, and firmware updates, along with updates to stock Apple apps like Safari. While developers have the option to offer apps through the Mac App Store, Mac apps can also be installed outside of the Mac App Store through traditional downloads.

Apps installed through the Mac App Store typically offer greater security as they have been vetted by Apple and are free from malicious code.

Mac App Store Articles

Mac App Store and Apple Books Experiencing Outage [Update: Fixed]

Tuesday August 27, 2024 11:27 am PDT by Juli Clover

The Mac App Store and the Apple Books are both having issues at this time, according to Apple's System Status page. There are no specific details on what the outage entails, as Apple only says that some users are experiencing a problem with the services. Apple says that the outages started at 12:15 p.m. Eastern Time. Only some users are affected, so not all users will see problems with the ‌M...

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macOS 15 No Longer Needs Twice the Free Space for App Store Installs

Tuesday June 25, 2024 2:24 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Starting with macOS Sequoia, app downloads and installations from the Mac App Store will no longer require double the amount of local storage space available. Instead, the free space requirement now matches the final install size of the app, plus a small buffer, according to Apple. The new space requirement in macOS 15 should significantly benefit users who download large games. Currently in ...

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Apple Launches Sale on Mac App Store Games

Thursday June 20, 2024 6:09 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Several popular Mac App Store games are on sale for the next week, with discounts of up to 75 percent off available. Valheim, Death Stranding Director's Cut, and Inscryption are all half price, with several other titles also on sale at even lower prices. Valheim - $9.99, down from $19.99 Death Stranding Director's Cut - $19.99, down from $39.99 Inscryption - $9.99, down from $19.99 ...

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Steam Link Launches on macOS, Enabling Game Streaming to Mac

Tuesday March 23, 2021 5:07 am PDT by Sami Fathi

Steam Link, which allows users to stream Steam games from a computer to another device, has officially launched on the Mac App Store. Steam users have been able to stream games from within the Steam Mac app for sometime. However, with the availability of Steam Link on macOS, users now have the option of choosing a lightweight download (29.8MB) to stream games to their Mac, rather than having ...

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Today Marks the 10th Anniversary of the Mac App Store

Wednesday January 6, 2021 12:00 am PST by Joe Rossignol

While the App Store launched on the iPhone in July 2008, the Mac App Store did not become available until January 6, 2011, when Apple released Mac OS X Snow Leopard version 10.6.6. Accordingly, today marks the 10th anniversary of the Mac App Store. Apple announced that the Mac App Store was "open for business" in a press release timed with the launch. "With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App...

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Apple Backtracks After Popular Mac App 'Amphetamine' Threatened With Removal Over Branding

Saturday January 2, 2021 10:25 am PST by Hartley Charlton

Popular Mac app "Amphetamine" will remain on the Mac App Store after reportedly being threatened with removal over its name and branding, which Apple had said breached App Store guidelines. Amphetamine is a free Mac app that helps users to keep their machine awake for a set amount of time. Launched in 2014, the app has been downloaded over 432,000 times and is highly rated on the ‌Mac App...

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Apple Highlights Popular Apps Optimized for M1 Macs

Monday December 14, 2020 7:56 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple recently shared a list of popular apps optimized for Macs with the M1 chip that are available in the Mac App Store, such as Pixelmator Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Designer, Darkroom, Fantastical, BBEdit, Instapaper, and Twitter. "Macs with the new Apple M1 chip offer unprecedented performance, and developers can optimize their apps for the M1 to deliver game-changing speed and...

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Malware Injected Into Xcode Projects Could Infiltrate Mac App Store

Monday August 24, 2020 9:17 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Last week, we reported on a severe new kind of Mac malware that has been found to infect via Xcode, discovered by security researchers at Trend Micro. In an exclusive interview with MacRumors, the security researchers behind the discovery, Oleksandr Shatkivskyi and Vlad Felenuik, have provided more information about their research. The malware, which is part of the XCSSET family, is "an ...

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Apple Explains BlueMail Reinstatement, Says BlueMail Finally Complied With Gatekeeper Security Requirements

Tuesday February 11, 2020 11:36 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Last week, BlueMail co-founders Ben Volach and Dan Volach penned an open letter that encouraged any developers who feel that Apple kicked them out of the App Store or has treated them unfairly to share their stories. BlueMail itself was removed from the Mac App Store in June 2019 after Apple found the app to be in violation of several App Store Review Guidelines, but the Volach brothers...

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BlueMail Returns to Mac App Store, Developers Still Suing Apple Over Anticompetitive Behavior [Updated]

Tuesday February 11, 2020 8:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Back in October, the developers behind email app BlueMail sued Apple, alleging that the "Hide My Email" feature of "Sign in with Apple" infringes on its patented technology. The complaint also accuses Apple of anticompetitive behavior, including removing BlueMail from the Mac App Store. Last week, after months of making little to no progress with Apple towards having its Mac app reinstated,...

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Apple Asks Devs to Submit macOS Catalina Apps to Mac App Store, Reminds About Notarization Requirements

Thursday October 3, 2019 2:13 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Ahead of the launch of macOS Catalina, which Apple says will "soon be available," Apple is asking developers to submit Mac apps compatible with Catalina to the Mac App Store. Apple encourages developers to take advantage of macOS Catalina technologies like Sign in with Apple, Sidecar, Core ML 3, and Metal. Apple also highlights Mac Catalyst, designed to bring iPad apps to the Mac. macOS...

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Adobe Lightroom Returns to the Mac App Store

Thursday June 20, 2019 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

At WWDC 2018, Apple introduced a redesigned Mac App Store alongside changes to sandboxing parameters on macOS Mojave. Since then, several well-known apps have launched on or returned to the ‌Mac App Store‌, including the Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft To-Do, BBEdit, Transmit, and others. Next up is Adobe Lightroom CC, which is available on the Mac App Store as of today. The professional...

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BBEdit Returns to Mac App Store

Thursday April 4, 2019 9:53 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Bare Bones Software today announced the return of BBEdit to the Mac App Store after a nearly five year hiatus. The popular text, code, and markup editor is a free download on the Mac App Store with full features available for $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year via in-app purchase. BBEdit remains available on a perpetual license basis for $49.99 via Bare Bones Software's online store and at...

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Apple Removes 11 Categories From the Mac App Store Categories Tab [Update: They're Back]

Friday November 2, 2018 3:41 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple has slashed the number of app categories listed in the Mac App Store's Categories tab, an apparently intentional move that may irk Mac users and developers who rely on the tab to aid app discoverability. The tab now lists just 10 categories, down from the 21 it had listed since the revamped Mac App Store debuted with the launch of macOS Mojave in September. The missing categories...

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Apple Encourages Developers to Get Their Mac Apps Notarized

Friday October 19, 2018 10:23 am PDT by Juli Clover

In macOS Mojave, Apple introduced a new notarization feature for apps distributed outside of the Mac App Store that's designed to further protect users from malicious Mac apps. Apple is encouraging Mac app developers to submit their apps to Apple to be notarized. An Apple-notarized Mac app comes with a "more streamlined Gatekeeper dialog" to assure users that an app is not known malware....

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Developers’ Opinion of Mac App Store Improving, but Many Still Unhappy With Lack of Upgrade Options and Free Trials

Thursday October 11, 2018 8:00 am PDT by Juli Clover

Setapp, a company that offers a subscription service for Mac apps, today published the results of an annual survey querying Mac app developers on the state of the Mac App Store. Many Mac developers continue to be unhappy with the Mac App Store and fewer are choosing it for app distribution, but Apple's efforts to improve the Mac App Store in Mojave have improved opinions in some cases. To get...

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Mac App Store App 'Adware Doctor' Discovered Stealing User Browsing History [Update: Removed]

Friday September 7, 2018 8:27 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard

The number one top-selling paid Utilities app on the Mac App Store in the United States has been found to steal the browser history of anyone who downloads it, and is still on the App Store as of this article. A video posted in August gave a proof of concept to how the app "Adware Doctor" steals user data, and security researcher Patrick Wardle has now looked into the app and shared his findings...

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'Life is Strange: Before the Storm' Launches on macOS September 13

Thursday September 6, 2018 6:20 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard

In March, Feral Interactive announced that its latest video game port for macOS would be the adventure game Life is Strange: Before the Storm, and at the time said it would launch in the spring. After a delay, the prequel is set to release next week on Thursday, September 13 on macOS and Linux. Life is Strange: Before the Storm was originally developed by Deck Nine and published by Square...

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Apple to Prevent iTunes Payment Info Changes on Very Old Versions of iOS, OS X, and Apple TV Software

Thursday June 28, 2018 6:36 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple has announced that, starting June 30, customers will no longer be able to change their iTunes or App Store payment information from devices running iOS 4.3.5 or earlier, OS X 10.8.5 or earlier, or Apple TV Software 4.4.4 or earlier. In an email to customers who may be impacted, Apple said it is implementing this change to continue to ensure that their financial information is protected ...

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Five Interesting Mac Apps Worth Checking Out - March 2018

Friday March 30, 2018 2:24 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apps designed for the Mac don't often receive as much attention as apps for iOS, so we've launched a monthly series that highlights useful, interesting Mac apps that are worth checking out. This month's app selection, outlined in the video and the post below, includes apps for cleaning up apps on your Mac, finding new wallpaper, reading the news, and more. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube ...

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