iOS and web apps were designed and developed with the limitations given by the sandbox from scratch; there are exactly zero iOS applications in existence that d

iOS and web apps were designed and developed with the limitations given by the sandbox from scratch; there are exactly zero iOS applications in existence that didn'assume sandbox limits. Flatpak applications are retrofits; they were originally developed with the assumption of the full access to the system (as permitted by permissions); so in order to remain useful, there has to be a transitional mechanism. No user would install an app, that is perfectly sandboxed, but no longer fit for purpose. The same thing applies to MacOS, MacOS sandbox and MAS (MacOS App Store), it is the same store. You can also see apps that are being offered outside MAS exclusively, or the MAS version having limited features compared to versions that you can obtain outside MAS. This also highlights difference between mobile and desktop apps: mobile apps are silos, that silo user data and only that one given application operates on them. Desktop apps on the other hand are built on cooperating; the user has a set of files that he organizes and then miscellaneous app operate on them. For this to work, the apps need to be provided access; thus they cannot silo user data for themselves.