Cascable Studio Rejected From the App Store
I’ve been shipping apps to the App Store for well over fifteen years now, and although there are App Review horror stories aplenty, I’ve always hoped I’d never be in a position to write one myself.
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What you just scrolled past was the history of my (eventually successful) attempt to get the new Mac version of our app — Cascable Studio — approved for the Mac App Store. The entire process took nearly a month, and we had to push an emergency build through in the middle there with some features stripped out to get something approved for launch.
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We’re at version 7.0 now, and the iOS version of this app has been on the App Store since 2015. Indeed, most of the app was fine — this ordeal was all about one particular feature.
A feature that’d already been approved and on the App Store since 2019 in a different app of ours.
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Anyway, I must’ve explained what Apple Events are to three separate people throughout this process. This did eventually get to someone technical up at the appeals board, but nobody having any idea what an “Apple Event” is really cannot have helped.
App Review doesn’t like apps that integrate with other apps, which is one of the best things about the Mac.
Update (2024-12-20): Matthias Gansrigler:
If you’re wondering why there hasn’t been an update for @ScreenFloatApp recently…
#reviewhell #securitytheater
Previously:
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It’s difficult to feel much sympathy for any developer still supporting the Mac App Store. The rejection of apps like Cascable Studio highlights the long-standing problems of the Mac App Store: arbitrary review processes, restrictive policies, and a system designed to prioritize Apple’s profits over the needs of developers and users. These issues have been evident since its inception.
What’s especially frustrating is that Mac developers have been successfully operating outside the Mac App Store for decades now. There’s a rich tradition of direct sales, shareware, and other independent distribution methods that not only foster creative freedom but also allow developers to retain control over pricing, updates, and customer relationships. Developers who choose to stick with the Mac App Store are willingly subjecting themselves to a deeply flawed system, despite clear, viable alternatives.
While it’s unfortunate when quality software is rejected due to Apple’s arbitrary rules, it’s hard to ignore the fact that participation in the Mac App Store enables the continuation of this broken ecosystem. If developers value their independence and the health of the Mac software community, they should leave the Mac App Store behind and return to the proven models that have served the Mac platform so well for decades.
"To use Apple Events from the sandbox, you need to declare the com.apple.security.temporary-exception.apple-events entitlement along with a list of apps you want to communicate with."
This is stupid.
This is really quite pathetic. Until now the issue has been that apps don't support Apple Events. Now even Apple doesn't support Apple Events. It's like a car company that has spent so many iterations changing the look of the car, that they no longer realize they need to make the oil cap accessible.
@Old Unix Geek It’s a longstanding issue. When the unsandboxed version of EagleFiler is no longer grandfathered, I will either have to remove the built-in integrations with nearly 100 different scripting targets or remove it from the Mac App Store.
