Mac App Store - page 2

Steve Jobs envisioned the App Store in 1983

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Steve Jobs on the cover of Time magazine in 1982.
Steve Jobs on the cover of Time magazine in 1982.
Photo: Time magazine

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a visionary. That’s a phrase that gets tossed around a lot, but in Jobs’ case we have solid evidence.

Speaking at a conference in the early 1980s, a decade before the Internet became a household name, he described something we do everyday: buy software online.

With macOS Mojave, Apple gives Mac some much-needed love

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Mojave
High Sierra is dead. Long live macOS Mojave!
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of Mac Developers received an early look at macOS 10.14 today, which bears the far-less-silly-than-last-year’s-High-Sierra name “Mojave.” After what Craig Federighi called a “four year mountain bender” Apple’s heading to the desert for its next-gen Mac OS.

For its 2018 iteration, Apple is introducing a dark mode, some nifty Finder updates, added privacy, and an all new, redesigned Mac App Store. Here’s what you need to know.

Fifth macOS 10.13.3 beta lands for developers

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iMac
There's a new beta out for Macs.
Photo: Apple

Apple seeded a new beta build to developers today with the release of macOS 10.13.3 beta 5.

The new beta comes a week after Apple dropped the fourth beta build on developers, bringing with it a host of new bug fixes and performance improvements.

Awesome Mac app makes managing contacts easier than ever

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Cardhop contacts app for Mac
Cardhop was created by the stellar team behind Fantastical.
Photo: Flexibits

Remember how Flexibits made managing your calendar incredibly easy with Fantastical? Now it is doing the same for your contacts with a brand new app called Cardhop.

Cardhop makes keeping your address book up to date and staying in touch with friends and colleagues quick and easy. It uses the same great natural language recognition found in Fantastical, and it’s available today on macOS.

macOS High Sierra is now available to the public

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macOS High Sierra
macOS High Sierra is ready for primetime.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The wait for macOS High Sierra is finally over.

Apple unleashed its huge update for the Mac this morning bringing a host of new features and UI changes to desktops after months of beta testing. Most of the update contains under-the-hood changes the makes machines faster and more stable, but there are plenty of new additions to love.

Devs reveal the good, bad and ugly about Mac App Store

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Mac App Store
The email app BlueMail finds itself on the outside of the "closed garden."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

For users, the Mac App Store makes finding, purchasing, and downloading new software a breeze. But is the experience as enjoyable for the developers behind that software?

Setapp surveyed over 700 macOS developers to find out what they really think of Apple’s marketplace. The results give us an interesting insight into the challenges they face when choosing the Mac App Store, whether life is better without it, and how Apple has improved.

Apple makes iWork and iLife apps free for all

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You no longer need to buy a new Mac to get GarageBand for free.
You no longer need to buy a new Mac to get GarageBand for free.
Photo: Apple

The best apps made by Apple for iPhone and iPad are finally available for free to all users.

As part of an update to its iWork and iLife apps this morning, Apple changed the price for both the Mac and iOS versions, giving customers access to a suite of apps that can be used for music and video or getting work done.

Evernote update brings new buttons to MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

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MacBook Pro owners will love the Evernote update.
MacBook Pro owners will love the Evernote update.
Photo: Evernote

MacBook Pro owners received some love from today in the form of an Evernote update that adds support for Apple’s new Touch Bar.

Instead of taking a complex approach to the Touch Bar, Evernote kept things simple — adding buttons for tasks you will want to do with one tap, such as search your notes or create a new one.

Devs no longer allowed to mention prices in app titles

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App Store
It’s gone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iOS and macOS developers are no longer allowed to mention price information in app titles.

Apple has previously discouraged users from including words like “free” in their App Store titles. Now the company has instigated a complete ban, and developers who don’t comply with its new rule will see their submissions rejected.

It’s not just you, iCloud is down now for some users

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icloud-music-library-itunes-match
iCloud is down.
Photo: Apple

Are you having a hard time backing up files to iCloud or listening to songs on Apple Music? You’re not alone.

It appears that Apple’s iCloud services are currently impacted by a major Amazon web services outage that has crippled the internet on the East Coast. It’s unclear what is causing the problem but Apple says only 0.04 percent of users are effected by “slower than normal performance.”

Here are all the Apple services that are down:

How indie devs at Smile won 100,000 happy customers

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Greg Scown, CEO of Smile
Smile CEO Greg Scown leads the team that created popular Mac apps TextExpander and PDFpen.
Photo courtesy Smile

Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

Smile, the indie development team behind super-popular productivity apps TextExpander and PDFpen, cut its teeth writing software for technology that barely exists anymore. But thanks to a user-focused attitude and a wholehearted embrace of the third-party tools that power modern offices, the company has been able to keep ahead of the curve as technology changes.

Why selling your app as a subscription makes sense

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Why selling Mac app subscriptions makes sense
If you develop Mac software, selling app subscriptions could be your smartest path to success.
Image: MacPaw

Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

When you’re developing Mac apps, success can sometimes seem self-defeating. The better job you do, the less your customers need to buy subsequent versions of your app. Your job then shifts to marketing and an endless quest to acquire new customers in order to keep cash flowing in. Meanwhile, those who use a subscription business model for their software can easily enjoy that sweet, sweet recurring revenue.

Some popular Mac apps fail as developer certificates expire

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Screen Shot 2017-02-18 at 9.26.30 PM
1Password is one of the apps that stopped working this weekend.
Photo: AgileBits

Several popular Mac apps began crashing over the weekend after their developer certificates expired.

The apps suddenly refused to open due to a change Apple made to its signing policy last year. Apple now requires that all apps from the Mac App Store have a valid provisioning profile that must be updated periodically.

Subscription service lets you binge on 60-plus Mac apps

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Setapp lets you binge on macOS apps.
Setapp is like Netflix for Mac apps.
Photo: MacPaw

The way Mac users get apps is about to become a lot more like Netflix, thanks to a service launching today called Setapp.

Created by the folks at MacPaw, Setapp is a new app subscription service that provides Mac users with an alternative way to try and buy apps instead of going through the Mac App Store.

Its not filled with loads of crap either. Top apps like Ulysses, Blogo, CleanMyMac, iMazing, Pixa, Polarr and Flume are all included. Instead of buying apps individually though, Setapp lets users pay a flat fee for access to hundreds of popular apps.

Developers will soon be able to reply to your mean app reviews

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Apple pays $467k for doing business with blacklisted app developer
You'll soon be able to turn off app review requests.
Photo: Apple

Apple is planning to make big changes to the way iOS and Mac users leave reviews for developers.

With the release of iOS 10.3 beta 1 and macOS 10.12.4 beta 1 this morning, Apple introduced two highly requested features for the developer community: a standardized method to ask for reviews, and a way for developers to reply to individual reviews.

Pro tips for improving your app reviews

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App Store reviews
Here's how to harness the power of app reviews (even bad ones).
Image: MacPaw

Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

Getting a bad app review is a definite bummer. When some faceless user trashes your labor of love in the App Store or some other public venue, it can really sting. But if you’re smart about it, you can turn negative reviews into positive opportunities for improving your app and winning committed customers.

Here’s how to spin bad app reviews into developer gold.

macOS 10.12.2 is out with new emoji and wallpapers

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macOS Sierra logo
New goodies have arrived for Mac users.
Photo: Apple

Mac owners can now take advantage of all the new emoji iPhone users got earlier this week, thanks to today’s release of macOS 10.12.2.

Apple launched the macOS update this morning, bringing a host of performance enhancements to users, as well as couple new features and small tweaks.

Mac app licensing is the headache you don’t want to DIY

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app licensing
For Mac developers, handling app licensing can be a huge hassle.
Image: MacPaw

Our new App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

For independent Mac developers, one of the big, daunting tasks that the Mac App Store efficiently handles is app licensing. You just submit your app, then the store manages the actual app license through its user accounts. But this unquestionable convenience comes with a few critical downsides.

How to fix Mac App Store download problems

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App Store tutorial
If you're experiencing certain download issues, this is an early bit of troubleshooting to do.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Macs are renowned for “just working,” but sometimes you might run into problems while downloading software from the Mac App Store. You might encounter files that say they’ve downloaded despite evidence to the contrary, or face verification errors or other installation difficulties.

If so, a relatively common fix involves emptying your Mac App Store temporary download cache folder. If you find yourself running into any of the Mac installation problems mentioned above, cleaning out this folder should be one of your first tasks.

But how do you do it? Follow our easy “how to” guide below.

‘Netflix of Mac software’ lets you binge on apps

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Mac App Store
The email app BlueMail finds itself on the outside of the "closed garden."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s Mac App Store has been a desolate wasteland of mediocrity for years, but a new service called Setapp wants to breathe new life into macOS apps.

Setapp app claims it’s an “Unstore” alternative to the Mac App Store. Instead of paying for apps individually, you’ll pay a monthly subscription fee for access to 300 popular apps.