{"id":50977,"date":"2026-02-10T16:24:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=50977"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:07:10","slug":"apple-creator-studio-and-the-app-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/10\/apple-creator-studio-and-the-app-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Creator Studio and the App Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Engst<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The transition from version 14.4 of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers to version 15.1 has been confusing, to say the least. In late January, Apple released version 14.5 of all three apps, with the App Store claiming “This update contains bug fixes and performance improvements” for all three. I wonder if even that is true, given that 14.5 doesn’t appear in the version history for any of them.<\/p>\n

The actual change in 14.5 is a dialog that appears at launch, informing the user that 14.5 will no longer receive updates and directing them to download version 15 from the App Store.<\/p>\n

When you click the Go to App Store link in each of these dialogs, you’re taken to the appropriate page to download version 15.1. (There’s no indication of what happened to 15.0.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Armin Briegel<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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In the Finder the two apps look the same, except for the icon. But when you look at them in detail, there are two important differences. The new apps have a different name in the file system, which you can see in Terminal. The name in the file system is \/Applications\/Keynote Creator Studio.app<\/code>.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

This may seem cosmetic, but it will lead to broken dock items when the old version is removed. A user might be confused why Keynote is suddenly a question mark in the dock.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

When you further inspect the application bundle by looking at the Info.plist or with a tool like Apparency<\/a>, you will see that the bundle identifier of the new app is com.apple.Keynote<\/code> vs. com.apple.iWork.Keynote<\/code> for the old one.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

digidude23<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Apple violating their own guidelines<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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

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This Creative Studio roll-out really has highlighted how lousy and inflexible the App Store back-end is. Double versions, app updates that tell you to download other app updates, and presumably why there’s only one bundle on offer… developers knew this already of course<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

David Deller<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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As a third-party dev, I expect to have to deal with things like this. But I think it really says something that Apple themselves can’t make it work better for their own apps. (Or don’t care enough to?)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Steve Troughton-Smith<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The new subscription-based iWork apps are a whole new Universal Purchase SKU on the Mac App Store, ditching the old Mac-only records. The old standalone apps still exist (for now), but if you search the store you’ll find two completely different versions each of Pages, Numbers and Keynote<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Mario Guzmán<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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What are we even doing. Ads in Apple’s apps… separate versions of subscription vs non-subscription…<\/p>\n

Steve Jobs would be running around screaming at everyone in anger.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Matt Sephton<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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If you were still in doubt we had reached, and passed, the end of an era at Apple: here is the nail in the coffin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Marc Edwards<\/a> (Reddit<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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I purchased Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro via my US App Store account years ago, but my Australian account is my main account. With Logic Pro 12, it looks like it’s no longer possible for me to use that setup. Final Cut Pro still works though.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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

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But it’s another level when the same thing happens to Apple and its own apps.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

I’m also struck by the fact that Apple has had to do the App Store trick of attaching subtitles to the names of every app it makes, because the design of the App Store has led to stuffing keywords into titles becoming somehow a best practice. So it’s not Final Cut Pro anymore, it’s “Final Cut Pro: Create Video.” And Numbers is “Numbers: Make Spreadsheets.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Craig Hockenberry<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Another reason for the subtitles: app title metadata can’t be the same as another SKU on ANY platform. If you release “Foo” on macOS, you can’t use “Foo” on iOS or a universal app.<\/p>\n

(We had to deal with this in Triode by using a dash, endash, and emdash on different platforms.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n