Since the Mac App Store opened in 2011, we’ve also experimented there. However, despite a decade of feedback from countless developers and users, Apple has made scant few changes and the store remains beset with issues. When you couple the many shortcomings and issues with Apple’s restrictive polices that preclude most of our software from appearing there, the Mac App Store is clearly a poor fit for us. With the removal of Fission, we no longer have any products in the Mac App Store.
While Apple is busy fighting to keep every penny of profit they can squeeze from the iOS App Store, the Mac App Store continues to push away best-of-class Mac developers like Rogue Amoeba, who can’t even have a basic audio editor in the MAS without it being more hassle than it’s worth.
I’m inclined to agree. I wonder if the trend of developers leaving the Mac App Store will continue and, if so, what that means for the future of MAS. I like having my apps in MAS but there are many annoyances - slower updates, no proper trials, no upgrade pricing etc.
In the beginning I tried to get all apps from the Mac App Store for the sake of convenience (no more copy paste of serial numbers) and security.
Due to Apple’s restrictions, developers frequently had/have to create a dumbed down version with fewer capabilities just to be approved. This is insane.
Because of this, I slowly migrated all the app licenses that I had in the MAS to regular versions downloaded directly from the developers’ websites. I had to pay again for a few apps, but it was worth it.
The only time I use the MAS now, is if an app is only available there and nowhere else.
I like having my apps on the Mac App Store since I can install any apps on my workplace. Having an app outside the store means I have to go through hoops and loops from management and IT just to get my apps installed.
If I want Sketch, IT will only let me install it in the documents folder. Blocking any plugins from being installed.
It’s sad though that notable Mac developers are leaving the store.
Rogue Amoeba seems like an unusual case — their software requires a much more complicated install process than almost anything else, b/c it works on some low-level system stuff. TBH I’m surprised it was ever in the MAS.
Fission does not require any low-level anything. It is simply an editor of audio files. The fact that the MAS cannot handle even that app is pretty absurd.
Sure, maybe something Audio Hijack is easier to understand (although if the MAS was good, it should be a place for all good apps, not just basic ones).
But Fission should, by all reasonable standards, be an easy fit for the MAS. If Rogue Amoeba left the MAS, that’s a back eye for Apple.
I rarely use the MAS anymore. When it first opened (many, many years back) it was a really good idea that I thought would prove to be (i) a central source of curated, high quality applications; and (ii) simplify the update of installed applications. I now find myself much happier with the quality of curation from Setapp, most non-MAS applications will notify me on startup if there is an update available and MacUpdater catches those that don’t. I tend to stick to applications that are recommended by others (including this forum, thanks!) or from I developers I have heard of, so, coupled with Gatekeeper, I’m not unduly concerned about malicious software or payment fraud. In any event, I tend to route payments through either ApplePay or PayPal for anything I buy on the web to minimise the number of sites/ stores that might keep my various card details on file. Licence keys can be a bit of nuisance, but I either keep them in 1Password or just ask for them again if they’re ever needed; one of the advantages of developers being able to actually know you are a customer, which using the MAS denies them.