Mac App Store apps in Tahoe compromised?

[leyonz]

Hi folks!

I have just found that (at least) some apps are considerably bigger (like at least twice the size) in Tahoe´s Mac App Store (MAS from now on). For example, Affinity Designer 2 is 2,89GB in Tahoe´s MAS (in a M4 MacBook Pro), while in Sequoia´s MAS (in a M2 MacBook Air from a family member) it is just 546,4MB. Exact-same-app and exact same version, last updated 4 months ago, which discards a Tahoe´s specific version. I post screenshots to check out. Also, Duckduckgo is 351,2MB in Tahoe´s MAS while in Sequoia´s it is just 105MB.

Is this normal behavior or has my Mac App Store in Tahoe somehow been compromised to link to non legit downloads?

I have also noticed that under System Settings on Tahoe, Affinity Designer 2 is taking 1,88GB of disk space out of to those supposed 2,89GB that the MAS indicates, while Duckduckgo is taking 174,8MB in comparison to those 351,2MB.

Does somebody know what the hell is going on?? I would really appreciate any info, I´m quite desperate as this is my work tool. Thanks a million in advance!

BTW, are MAS downloaded apps in not listed anymore in System Info > Applications in Tahoe? Because the ones that I have downloaded from the MAS don´t show anymore.

 

[leyonz]

Post some more screenshots of other apps that have way larger size than what it is displayed outside Tahoe´s Mac App Store.

Which is kind of curious... All three apps appear to have the same 2,89GB size. That´s what caught my attention in the first place.

 

[bob_zz123]

I imagine it's more a bug with the Mac App Store than any type of conspiracy to be honest, if all the Affinity apps are the same sizes. That said, I'd imagine a big app like Affinity Designer to be closer to 2.89GB than 500MB.

You can check whether your app is signed by the Mac App Store by runing in Terminal (app has to be downloaded and installed first):
spctl -a -vvvvv <drag App icon to Terminal window>[return]

And it should say something like:
<name of app> Accepted
source=Mac App Store
origin=Apple Mac OS Application Signing

Whereas if it is a non-App Store (but signed) app it'll say:
<name of app> Accepted
source=Notarized Developer ID
origin=Developer ID Application: <developer name and Team ID>

 

[leyonz]

Thanks @bob_zz123 very much for your reply. After a long talk withc ChatGPT, the most plausible reason is that Tahoe´s Mac App Store might estimate de size of its apps differently than Sequoia´s and previous. Downloaded Affinity Design 2 in both computers (MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, both with M series chips) and although, as stated, one MAS says that the size of the app is 2,89GB and the other MAS just 546MB, both apps have a installed size of 1,88/1,89GB, both universal class (as seen in Settings/Storage/Applications).

I´ll keep digging into this. Meanwhile I would be grateful if someone with Tahoe can look in the MAS and confirm that indeed Affinity Designer 2 weights 2,89GB, or it is just me Cheers!

 

[bob_zz123]

I can confirm on Tahoe it says 2.89GB for me too.