{"id":30815,"date":"2020-11-25T16:58:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T21:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=30815"},"modified":"2023-05-29T10:15:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T14:15:56","slug":"ios-apps-not-available-in-the-mac-app-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/25\/ios-apps-not-available-in-the-mac-app-store\/","title":{"rendered":"iOS Apps Not Available in the Mac App Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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If there’s a single disappointment in the release of Apple’s first wave of M1 Macs, it’s the lackluster launch of iOS apps running inside of macOS. What should be an amazing unification of Apple’s platforms and a massive expansion of the Mac software base is, instead… kind of a non-event.<\/p>\n

Running iOS apps on the Mac can be a little weird, it’s true. But it can sometimes be good. Unfortunately, a lot of interesting iOS apps just aren’t available at all, because their developers have removed them from the Mac side of the iOS App Store.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

But Apple’s biggest impact can come with the decisions it makes about hardware. The reason some iOS apps feel weird on the Mac is that they were designed for touch, not for a cursor and keyboard. Introducing Macs with touchscreens won’t change the Mac’s status as a mouse-first operating system, but it will offer alternate modes of input—and open up better compatibility with some iOS apps.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Juli Clover<\/a>:<\/p>\n

App developers can choose not to make their iPhone and iPad apps available on M1 Macs through the Mac App Store, and many popular apps like Netflix, Hulu, and others have made this choice. There is a workaround for installing these apps anyway, but it involves third-party software.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the M1 Macs are able to run any .ipa file, which is the format used for iOS apps. You need the .ipa file for an app to run it on an M1 Mac, and getting those files can be done through software like iMazing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

There is an alternative method that uses Apple’s free Apple Configurator 2<\/a> app, but does require you to use the Terminal to fix permissions. The instructions are detailed in this forum post<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Michael Love<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Man Apple screwed this up - “opt out of distributing your iOS app on Mac” except not really because anybody can run it without even modifying the binary (and without FairPlay).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Apple has pretty much ignored the issue of how to validate purchases. This could have been an advantage of the Mac App Store, with the system handling it automatically like on iOS. Instead, we got nine years of buggy sample code<\/a> for receipt validation. And now no protections for apps that opt out of Mac support.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n