The App Store for Mac was first released back in 2011. Then Apple promised us a convenient way to buy applications and a bunch of different goodies. It’s been a little over 11 years and the app store on the Mac still doesn’t make much of an impression, at least for me. It is much easier to act the old-fashioned way: go to the developer’s website, get acquainted with the product, learn about all its pros and cons, and download the desired program there. In the article, I will tell you why I do not use the App Store on Mac and how best to download applications.
The app is not in the App Store
My acquaintance with Mac computers began quite recently. Of course, like any other user, the first step was to download all the necessary software. I found a selection of cool programs that everyone should install, and climbed to install them in the App Store.
Even before buying a Mac, I knew that the built-in QuickTime Player did not support some formats, and I would have to look at a third-party video player. Since the days of Windows, I fell in love with VLC: its functionality is cool, and the interface is convenient. Plus, many friends recommended downloading it for Mac. I got it in the App Store, but it’s not there.
It turned out that a long time ago, one of the founders of VLC filed a complaint against Apple, in which he stated that the license did not comply with the terms of sale in the App Store. Later, CheatSheet and a bunch of others were added to my list of absentees. In the end, I just gave up on this matter and started downloading all the applications from official sources on the site.
App clones in the App Store
In parallel with this, I ran into another problem – application clones. If you score the same CheatSheet in the App Store Search, a bunch of clones pops up with the same or very similar name. This was the second reason I abandoned the App Store on Mac. I see no reason to rummage through a pile of copies to find the original. Much easier to find everything on Google.
Plus, some of the clone apps are paid. It will be very unpleasant if you pay a couple of thousand rubles for an application that you did not want. By the way, if anyone didn’t know, you can try to return the money in the App Store, the author of AppleInsider.ru Alexander Bogdanov spoke about this earlier in his material, check it out.
To prevent this from happening, inside each application in the App Store on Mac there is a special Information section, where all data about the developer, application size, and copyright is stored, always focus on it. Also, don’t forget to read all the reviews and look at the rating of the app. Buy a clone of Microsoft Office for a couple of thousand, I think no one wants.
Many Yabloko people often say that Google Play is garbage, everything is clearly structured in the App Store and there are no application clones here. In fact, there is, and a lot. Another thing is that they all hide somewhere in the background and you are unlikely to see them in the recommendations.
Can’t download the app from App Store
Almost immediately after Apple introduced the first generation of its Apple Silicon-based computers, it was announced that there would be apps in the App Store that work on both iPhone and Mac. Again, given that the App Store does not shine with a large number of applications, the feature is very convenient. The amount of software should expand.
But the trouble is that most Mac owners are left with computers based on Intel. If this is true for you, then another problem pops up. App Store category recommendations often show me apps that can’t be downloaded. That is, the Download button, with which we download applications, is simply not pressed, and when you go to the application page, the inscription flaunts Incompatible with this device.
Willy-nilly, you wonder whether Apple is deliberately pushing its users to switch to their own, or whether there are simply not so many applications in the App Store in general. But in fact, and in another case, it does not look very nice on the part of Cupertino.
App Store freezes on Mac
Right after I bought a Mac, I thought that all native apps on a Mac would open just as fast as they did on an iPhone. It turned out that this was not the case. On my MacBook Pro 2020, I have repeatedly encountered the fact that the App Store just crashes out of the blue. Applications on a Mac take up a lot of space, so, of course, I would not like to download the same thing several times.
Just imagine: you download several applications weighing a little more than 2 GB each, and suddenly all downloads stop. In this case, you have only one option – to completely close the application and start it again. In Safari, I have never encountered this.
Where to download apps for Mac
You can download the application for Mac either in the App Store or directly from the official website of the developer. Yes, there are other resources, but I strongly discourage piracy.
Plus, I must say that the site usually contains much more information than the application page in the App Store. A particularly striking example is VPN. You can also download them from the App Store, but it is better to study all the information about the application from the original site. Often, some subtleties are not indicated in the app store.
For example, VPN services in the description often lack information about the amount of traffic and tariff plans. At the same time, everything on the site is written in black and white. This is largely due to the commission that Apple takes for conducting transactions through applications. You know, 30% of the amount is not lying on the road. Also keep in mind that many VPN services simply don’t exist on a Mac. I noticed this when I compiled a selection of the best VPNs for you .
Before looking for an application in a good way, you need to find out the name of not only the application itself, but also the name of the developer. And then the matter is small – fill in a query in a search engine, go to the site, look for the Download on Mac button and you’re done.
