{"id":97398,"date":"2025-07-01T13:26:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T18:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=97398"},"modified":"2025-07-01T13:26:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T18:26:58","slug":"the-mac-app-store-in-2025-still-simple-still-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/97398-the-mac-app-store-in-2025-still-simple-still-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mac App Store in 2025: Still simple. Still broken."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On January 6th, 2011, Apple unveiled the Mac App Store to the general public. Released with the Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6.6 update, the Mac App Store had an impressive 1000 free and paid apps on launch day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourteen years later, the Mac App Store is still chugging along. While it\u2019s convenient in some ways, particularly for new Mac users, I find the experience frustrating. So much so that I no longer consider the Mac App Store as a viable option when I\u2019m on the search for new Mac apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get this out of the way: Purchasing and installing apps from the Mac App Store is still easy and painless for single user licenses. This is what Apple gets right<\/em>. Apple also does a good job with its curated lists, such as \u201cBest New Apps and Updates\u201d, \u201cEssential Safari Extensions\u201d, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But finding and filtering apps outside of Apple\u2019s curated lists is a different story. In short: it\u2019s not very useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Searching “Typing Practice” by relevance yields predictable results.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To demonstrate, I entered \u201cTyping Practice\u201d within the Search field. A list of typing applications is shown. A closer look at the Search filter reveals that the results are sorted based on Relevance<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Searching the same result by Popularity yields a top result that is not relevant. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, let\u2019s sort the Filter by Popularity<\/strong>. My expectation is that the list will start with the most popular typing practice application, but instead, the new results show \u201cForm for Google Forms\u201d. Below is another example, with the Search term “Email”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Searching “Email” by relevance yields solid results…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Switching to “Popularity” as a filter yields “What’s App” as the top result, followed by Amazon Prime Video. Not email.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sorting by Ratings<\/strong> shows me useful results, but sorting by Release Date<\/strong> does not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sorting apps by release date is only marginally helpful. It would be much clearer if release dates accompanied each app in this sort search.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Including an accompanying release date next to each app would help me in deciding whether or not I want to take a chance on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An application’s version history is useful. It can be found if you look closely. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Some apps do not list the version or version history. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When selecting an app within the Mac App Store, one can immediately see its rating, age, chart listing within its category, and size of the app. This is fine. But I think it would be even more helpful if users could easily see the version number and release date in this area as well. To be fair, if one scrolls down past the \u201cRatings & Reviews\u201d section, one can usually find an application\u2019s Version History. But I\u2019ve encountered a few apps missing this section altogether. Consistency would be nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another problem with the App Store is the sheer volume of old, outdated applications, many of which are between 4 to 8 years old. This makes the shopping experience more \u201cseedy strip mall\u201d than \u201cupscale boutique mall\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, it would be helpful for Apple to provide a color-coded visual indicator for each app to show how \u201cfresh\u201d it is. A green color designate that the app in question was updated within the past year. Similarly, a yellow color would denote that an app is between 1 to 2 years old, while an orange color could indicate that an app is older than 2 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mac App Store also suffers from plenty of fake and knock-offs Mac apps. Some of these apps use familiar icons to their legitimate counterparts, but contain malicious code or other nefarious elements. I understand that some fake apps can slip through the cracks, but it\u2019s still a problem. If not checked, it can really sour users on the Mac App Store shopping experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple leverages machine learning for Siri, Focus Modes, and the Photos app. Why it hasn\u2019t turned its machine learning gaze towards the Mac App Store is beyond baffling to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issues I\u2019ve cited above are not new. They\u2019ve existed for more than a few years, and it\u2019s getting worse. The degraded experience means that I prioritize finding Mac apps on the web first, before I even consider the Mac App Store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based what I\u2019ve seen over the past fourteen years, I\u2019m not holding out any hope that any of my concerns will be addressed. Though it would be a pleasant surprise if care and attention were given to Apple\u2019s \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d. Those are my biggest gripes with the Mac App Store. What are some of yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a standpoint of pure app discovery, the Mac App Store is still not very useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":97515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7063],"class_list":["post-97398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-talk"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Mac App Store in 2025: Still simple. 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