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Well, it's a start? I know I'm not the first to stay it, but I'm still so shocked how limited the Mac App Store is. No trial versions, no in-app purchases, no

Well, it's a start? I know I'm not the first to stay it, but I'm still so shocked how limited the Mac App Store is. No trial versions, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions, etc. This has led to companies like Bohemian (makers of Sketch) [1] leaving the Mac App Store. I'm not being facetious when I ask people more knowledgeable than me: why does Apple put so little effort into the store? Is it just too small to warrant their attention? It just seems to me like they don't even try. http://bohemiancoding.tumblr.com/post/134322691555/leaving-the-mac-app-store http://bohemiancoding.tumblr.com/post/134322691555/leaving-t...

flukus 10y ago
Limited from a developer perspective but fantastic from a consumer one (except maybe the trial version stuff).
- Aldo_MX 10y ago
  Not so fantastic, because it resets the ratings every update, which translates in developers constantly begging for stars...
  - keehun 10y ago
    I do agree resetting the ratings at every update is a big hassle. I wonder why Apple doesn't have the reviewer determine whether or not the rating should be reset. Perhaps that would introduce too much power to the reviewer(s?).
  - flukus 10y ago
    Every update may be a bit excessive, but it's better than never. A review is made at a point in time and a product can get better or worse over time. If I ever get begged for stars though the app gets one star.
- archildress 10y ago
  Do you think it's a fantastic experience because it's simple? I know that most people that post on HN are early adopters and trend toward power users, but they also use a lot more apps in total than my casual computer-using friends.
  - flukus 10y ago
    > Do you think it's a fantastic experience because it's simple? I thinks it's fantastic because the don't allow nickle and dimeing customers.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
doomlaser 10y ago
Don't forget that Apple's draconian sandboxing limitations restrict entire categories of desktop applications from being sold on the Mac App Store. When you've got an application like Coda from Panic that can't even manage to exist on the Store, that should be a sign that the thing needs to change.
blazespin 10y ago
What I find pretty awful is all of the apps I bought aren't being upgraded even though they were really great when I bought them. I'd even pay money to upgrade them. So sad to see all that wasted effort.
- mal1sh 10y ago
  Maybe you can try Setapp.com - service released today. They provide access to more than 60+ apps without paid upgrades and in-app purchased.
kcase 10y ago
The Mac App Store already supports both in-app purchases and subscriptions, and we currently leverage that to offer free trials of two of our apps (OmniGraffle and OmniPlan) and will soon extend that to the rest of our product line (OmniFocus and OmniOutliner). I shared more details about this on our blog a few months ago: https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/providing-the-best-possible-app-store-experience https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/providing-the-best-possible-a...
- nodamage 10y ago
  I thought time-limited trials were not permitted in the Mac App Store? How did this get through the review process?
  - kcase 10y ago
    The app itself cannot expire, but functionality unlocked within the app can expire so long as the app remains useful--or the app is based on subscriptions, in which case you can make the expired app do nothing at all. In the case of OmniGraffle 7 the free functionality that it retains after the trial expires is that the app can continue to be used as a free viewer for OmniGraffle documents (in much the same way as people use free PDF viewer apps). When we first shipped OmniGraffle 7, some people thought that perhaps we'd just managed to slip its free trials past some Apple's reviewer's radar. But we were very careful and intentional about designing the app to follow their guidelines, and we've shipped several updates that have passed review since then--and at the end of the year Apple awarded the app a "Best of 2016" App Store award. So now that we know for certain that Apple is OK with this approach, we're in the process of bringing this model to the rest of our apps on both Mac and iOS.
    - nodamage 10y ago
      Ah, that's very interesting. I did not realize that reverting the expired trial version to "view-only" mode was considered within the guidelines. Thanks for the clarification, I may have to consider this model for my own apps. I assume Apple did not have a problem with your use of the "Free Trial" wording in the app? After the trial period expires, does the app display a launch screen directing you to purchase the full version?

flukus 10y ago

Limited from a developer perspective but fantastic from a consumer one (except maybe the trial version stuff).

Aldo_MX 10y ago
Not so fantastic, because it resets the ratings every update, which translates in developers constantly begging for stars...
- keehun 10y ago
  I do agree resetting the ratings at every update is a big hassle. I wonder why Apple doesn't have the reviewer determine whether or not the rating should be reset. Perhaps that would introduce too much power to the reviewer(s?).
- flukus 10y ago
  Every update may be a bit excessive, but it's better than never. A review is made at a point in time and a product can get better or worse over time. If I ever get begged for stars though the app gets one star.
archildress 10y ago
Do you think it's a fantastic experience because it's simple? I know that most people that post on HN are early adopters and trend toward power users, but they also use a lot more apps in total than my casual computer-using friends.
- flukus 10y ago
  > Do you think it's a fantastic experience because it's simple? I thinks it's fantastic because the don't allow nickle and dimeing customers.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

doomlaser 10y ago

Don't forget that Apple's draconian sandboxing limitations restrict entire categories of desktop applications from being sold on the Mac App Store. When you've got an application like Coda from Panic that can't even manage to exist on the Store, that should be a sign that the thing needs to change.

blazespin 10y ago

What I find pretty awful is all of the apps I bought aren't being upgraded even though they were really great when I bought them. I'd even pay money to upgrade them. So sad to see all that wasted effort.

mal1sh 10y ago
Maybe you can try Setapp.com - service released today. They provide access to more than 60+ apps without paid upgrades and in-app purchased.

kcase 10y ago

The Mac App Store already supports both in-app purchases and subscriptions, and we currently leverage that to offer free trials of two of our apps (OmniGraffle and OmniPlan) and will soon extend that to the rest of our product line (OmniFocus and OmniOutliner). I shared more details about this on our blog a few months ago: https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/providing-the-best-possible-app-store-experience https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/providing-the-best-possible-a...

nodamage 10y ago
I thought time-limited trials were not permitted in the Mac App Store? How did this get through the review process?
- kcase 10y ago
  The app itself cannot expire, but functionality unlocked within the app can expire so long as the app remains useful--or the app is based on subscriptions, in which case you can make the expired app do nothing at all. In the case of OmniGraffle 7 the free functionality that it retains after the trial expires is that the app can continue to be used as a free viewer for OmniGraffle documents (in much the same way as people use free PDF viewer apps). When we first shipped OmniGraffle 7, some people thought that perhaps we'd just managed to slip its free trials past some Apple's reviewer's radar. But we were very careful and intentional about designing the app to follow their guidelines, and we've shipped several updates that have passed review since then--and at the end of the year Apple awarded the app a "Best of 2016" App Store award. So now that we know for certain that Apple is OK with this approach, we're in the process of bringing this model to the rest of our apps on both Mac and iOS.
  - nodamage 10y ago
    Ah, that's very interesting. I did not realize that reverting the expired trial version to "view-only" mode was considered within the guidelines. Thanks for the clarification, I may have to consider this model for my own apps. I assume Apple did not have a problem with your use of the "Free Trial" wording in the app? After the trial period expires, does the app display a launch screen directing you to purchase the full version?