Maybe it's a slily question but is there a reason for most of the apps not being on the app store? I think its really convenient, specially when you want to update them, at first I thought its because apple has to approve them , but that cannot be the case, even apps like chrome are not on the store, then I tought maybe it's because they don't want to wait for apple to approve the updates and they're not force to that unlike on ios, but still these are just assumptions, what do you think about this?
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Why aren't 90% of the apps on the App store?
- Thread starter chad.petree
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Because Apple has way too many restrictions on what goes on the App Store and what doesn't go.
Chrome and Spotify aren't on the App Store because they're direct competitors to Safari and iTunes.
Developers have to go through the extra hurdle of making their apps work sandboxed. Depending on the app this can be as trivial as setting up an option in Xcode or trying tons of different workarounds to make their app work.
Emulators are a no-no.
Developers have to buy a $99-a-year membership to keep their app on the store. Some smaller developers might ditch paying the fee and just host it elsewhere, pretty much for free.
And so ultimately having an app on the Mac App Store is more of a hassle for developers.
Chrome and Spotify aren't on the App Store because they're direct competitors to Safari and iTunes.
Developers have to go through the extra hurdle of making their apps work sandboxed. Depending on the app this can be as trivial as setting up an option in Xcode or trying tons of different workarounds to make their app work.
Emulators are a no-no.
Developers have to buy a $99-a-year membership to keep their app on the store. Some smaller developers might ditch paying the fee and just host it elsewhere, pretty much for free.
And so ultimately having an app on the Mac App Store is more of a hassle for developers.
And for paid apps, Apple takes a 30% share of the revenue. For big players like Adobe and Microsoft there zero reason to pay Apple because they already have distribution in place and people will find their apps anyway.
I just checked windows store and chrome , Spotify and WhatsApp aren't there either just to name a few , does Microsoft have draconian policies like apples ?
Hmm then why do we keep reading that developers make so much money on iOS instead of Android , 30℅ that's insane !!!! :/
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iOS is a closed system, whereas macOS is open. I.e. on iOS the only way to install software is from the App Store, while in macOS you can install software from any source.
Apple taking 30% of the proceeds is a big issue I believe, and from what I saw a few months ago in a news article, a developer of a popular app wasn't really getting a lot of revenue.
As already mentioned, Apple imposes restrictions on what APIs can and cannot be used, Applications like Carbon Copy Cloner and other do not fit too well with those restrictions.
Also consider the fact that the MAS doesn't really have any sort of upgrade pricing model, or a demo type of setup
Then there's Apple's inconsistent review process which can hold up the release of an app, or reject it, even though they may have approved an early version with the same feature.
The Windows store is much weaker then Apple's and it hasn't really captured the hearts of developers. I don't know the details and policies of the windows store, so I can't say its worse, the same or better then Apple's MAS.
The MAS definitely has some advantages, as its easier to get your computer up and running, i.e., your apps can download from the MAS when you buy a new computer (or wipe your existing one).
