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A bit, all the App Store apps (with a few exception by Apple, of course) are sandboxed. That's an additional level of security that normal apps don't require.

A bit, all the App Store apps (with a few exception by Apple, of course) are sandboxed. That's an additional level of security that normal apps don't require. The macOS sandbox is not perfect, but in most cases is better than nothing.

knallfrosch 3y ago
Why doesn't Apple allow any app (from outside the Apple store) to run in a sandbox then?
- galad87 3y ago
  They do allow, but it’s not required. So many developers take the easy way and don’t sandbox their app even when it’s easy. The macOS sandbox clearly needs some improvements, but developers have their part of faults too.
fastball 3y ago
Apple is very capable of sandboxing apps that weren't downloaded from a centralized store.
- galad87 3y ago
  That’s not how the macOS app sandbox works, it’s up to the developer to implement it. Apple introduced a few protection for normal apps recently, for example reading files from Documents, Desktop, external drives, and a few more places shows a modal dialog the first time, but it’s a long way from the capabilities of the app sandbox.
  - fastball 3y ago
    Gatekeeper already prevent users from easily running apps that haven't been signed by Apple, you can just extend that to sandboxing.
    - galad87 3y ago
      How? Sandboxing isn't about preventing running app unsigned by Apple. A sandboxed app can be signed with ad-hoc certificate. Sandboxing means to explicitly limit the reach of an app. This is easy in some case: limit access to the network, the microphone, etc. However is not so simple when you have to manage files and security scoped bookmarks: every app will require some changes, sometimes small, sometimes large, to store the security scoped bookmarks it needs. This is not something you can automate with good results.
      - iggldiggl 3y ago
        > sometimes small, sometimes large And sometimes not reasonably possible at all, because e.g. like all sandboxing approaches I'm aware of, Apple's file sandboxing, too, sucks at handling multi-file file formats. (Though to give them credit, they're the only ones who at least have made an attempt at handling those [1], even if that still only covers a rather limited part of that use case.) [1] At least according to the documentation I've found, their sandboxing should be able to handle "related" files that only differ in their file extensions, but a number of existing file formats are easily more complex than that. I think that's still more than what's possible on Android, Windows or Linux, though…

knallfrosch 3y ago

Why doesn't Apple allow any app (from outside the Apple store) to run in a sandbox then?

galad87 3y ago
They do allow, but it’s not required. So many developers take the easy way and don’t sandbox their app even when it’s easy. The macOS sandbox clearly needs some improvements, but developers have their part of faults too.

fastball 3y ago

Apple is very capable of sandboxing apps that weren't downloaded from a centralized store.

galad87 3y ago
That’s not how the macOS app sandbox works, it’s up to the developer to implement it. Apple introduced a few protection for normal apps recently, for example reading files from Documents, Desktop, external drives, and a few more places shows a modal dialog the first time, but it’s a long way from the capabilities of the app sandbox.
- fastball 3y ago
  Gatekeeper already prevent users from easily running apps that haven't been signed by Apple, you can just extend that to sandboxing.
  - galad87 3y ago
    How? Sandboxing isn't about preventing running app unsigned by Apple. A sandboxed app can be signed with ad-hoc certificate. Sandboxing means to explicitly limit the reach of an app. This is easy in some case: limit access to the network, the microphone, etc. However is not so simple when you have to manage files and security scoped bookmarks: every app will require some changes, sometimes small, sometimes large, to store the security scoped bookmarks it needs. This is not something you can automate with good results.
    - iggldiggl 3y ago
      > sometimes small, sometimes large And sometimes not reasonably possible at all, because e.g. like all sandboxing approaches I'm aware of, Apple's file sandboxing, too, sucks at handling multi-file file formats. (Though to give them credit, they're the only ones who at least have made an attempt at handling those [1], even if that still only covers a rather limited part of that use case.) [1] At least according to the documentation I've found, their sandboxing should be able to handle "related" files that only differ in their file extensions, but a number of existing file formats are easily more complex than that. I think that's still more than what's possible on Android, Windows or Linux, though…