The Mac App Store has come a long way since it launched back in 2011, but in some ways, it hasn’t come far enough. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s missing several features, like a wish list and direct app uninstallation, that prevent it from being as great as it could be.
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Here, we’ll suggest several ways Apple could improve the Mac App Store. Perhaps you’ve wondered about some of them and why Apple hasn’t implemented those features yet.
1. Introducing Support for Wish Lists
If you see an app you like in an app store that you can’t install because you neither have the space nor the funds, you’ll want to save it for later so that you can easily find it when you’re ready. This is where a wish list feature would be handy, but sadly, the Mac App Store doesn’t have it.
However, while the above is better than nothing, it still doesn’t beat having an in-app wish list feature to save items you wish to purchase later. So, Apple should consider adding a wish list to make the process convenient for users.
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2. Adding an App Gifting Feature
The Mac App Store lacks something its iOS and iPadOS counterparts have—an app gifting feature. If you want to gift an app from the App Store, you must use an iPhone or iPad; if you don’t have either, you’ll have to think of a workaround.
This situation is perhaps even more baffling than the wish list one. Why can you gift an app from your iPhone or iPad but not your Mac? It makes no sense, especially since you can gift music with the iTunes Store via the Apple Music app on your Mac.
If Apple were to add a Gift button next to the Buy button in the Mac App Store, it would make many users happy. However, until that happens, or assuming it never does happen, you can always send an Apple Gift Card to a loved one, so they can purchase apps from the Mac App Store.
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3. Allowing Direct App Uninstallation
Installing apps from the Mac App Store is straightforward. Visit the app’s page, select Buy or Get, depending on whether it’s paid or free, and proceed. Uninstalling apps in the App Store, on the other hand, isn’t as straightforward.
To uninstall an app directly from the Mac App Store, you’ll need to go through these steps:
- Click on your Apple ID name in the bottom-left corner of the App Store and then search for the app under the Purchased section.
- Hover your cursor over the app to see the triple-dot icon, and click on it to access more options.
- Select Delete App from the context menu to uninstall it from your Mac.
Note that the above steps only apply to apps you download from the Mac App Store. To uninstall apps from elsewhere, check out our guide on uninstalling apps on a Mac.
The problem with the above method of uninstalling apps from the Mac App Store is that some people might not realize it’s an option. It would be helpful if Apple could add an uninstall button beneath apps in the Mac App Store so users can easily uninstall apps.
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4. An Improved Search Filter
There’s room for improvement in the Mac App Store’s search filter feature. For example, the ability to sort app relevance, popularity, and ratings from low to high when using the search filter would be nice.
Apple should also include search filters in the Discover, Create, Work, Play, and Categories sections of the Mac App Store, so users can quickly sort apps by type and other parameters. When searching for paid apps, there is no way to sort them by price from low to high.
Finally, when filtering apps by price, there’s an option to view free and paid apps or only free apps, but there’s no option only to show paid apps. By improving the Mac App Store’s search filter, Apple will make searching for apps less cumbersome than it currently is.
5. Allowing Users to Find Games by Genre
It’s frustrating how there’s no genre filter to apply when searching for games in the Mac App Store. For instance, if you want to search for horror or adventure games on the Mac App Store under the Play section, you won’t see either option in the search filter.
Adding a Browse by Genre tab under the Play section would significantly improve the experience of searching for games in the Mac App Store. That way, if you want a racing game, cooking game, or puzzle game, you can simply use the genre search filter to find one.
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6. Displaying Your Last Few Searches
Searching for apps is one way to get the most out of the Mac App Store, particularly if you know how to go about it. However, searching can be a hassle sometimes, especially if it takes you a while to find what you were looking for and it hasn’t been long since you performed the search.
Apple can make it easier for you to quickly access the apps you were recently interested in by displaying your last four or five searches in the Mac App Store so that you don’t have to type in the search query again.
7. Making It Easier to View Your Purchases
You can view the apps installed from the Mac App Store on your Mac by clicking on your name in the bottom-left corner of the app, then scrolling down to Purchased. Under Purchased, you’ll see all the apps you installed on your Mac, both free and paid.
However, the problem with viewing your purchase history in the Mac App Store is that it isn’t detailed enough. All you’ll see is a list of apps. You can’t differentiate between the apps you bought and those you installed for free. For apps you remember paying for, you can’t see how much you paid.
The only way to see detailed information on your App Store purchases, including purchase dates and amounts paid, is through the Apple Music app. It would be great if Apple could bring this level of purchase history detail to the Mac App Store, so users can easily check for discrepancies.
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The Mac App Store Could Be Much Better
As you can tell by now, the Mac App Store has plenty of room for improvement. If users could add apps to a wishlist, gift apps, search for apps and games with an improved search filter, and more, they’d be significantly happier, with fewer complaints about the store.
Apple has the opportunity to make the Mac App Store an even better place by incorporating the features we mentioned above. Hopefully, we’ll get at least some of them in a future macOS update.
