For years, it has seemed that the App Store on macOS has been largely forgotten. The app was clunky and didn’t really properly showcase any new apps that may be interesting.
However, that is all changing with the release of macOS Mojave on compatible Macs this Fall. Apple has redesigned the App Store from the ground up, and created a much different experience.
macOS App Store Overview
When you boot up the new macOS App Store, you will immediately notice quite a few changes. At the top, there will be a rotating selection of “featured” apps with a few sections below.
On the left, Apple has included a sidebar with a few different sub-sections. We have listed these below and will be taking a look at them individually.
Discover
Moving to the main Discover page, there are two more features apps sections. Scrolling down even further will reveal the Top Paid and Top Free charts for you to view and peruse at your leisure.
There are a few more sub-sections found here, which will hopefully become more personalized and streamlined. Meaning that if you already own apps like Slack or a featured app, the listing will be replaced in the featured section.
Apple has also included an Editors’ Choice section, which houses many apps that you have likely already heard of at some point. Currently, these include Bear Notes, Things 3, Capo 3, and more.
All the way at the bottom of the page, you will find a couple of tools to help add money to your account. On the left, there is a Redeem button to enter Gift Card codes, while the Add Funds to Apple ID button makes it easy to use your own funds to add to your account.
Create
From within the Create page, you will find a few different highlighted applications or developer profiles. Then, there are sections for specific tasks such as Edit Photos and Images, Explore Your Creativity and more.
There are a lot of sub-sections included to highlight various applications while showing off some that you may not have heard of. This is a welcome addition and is shown off in just about every section of the new macOS App Store.
Work
If you need help keeping track of your tasks or calendar, then the Work page will be for you. As with the other sections, there are a few highlighted apps, along with an Editors’ Choice section.
Play
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, Apple has included a new Play section in the macOS App Store. From here, you will see some highlighted games at the top, along with a more intensive list below.
Develop
Apple has obviously been making a bigger pivot to include developers in the fun, and this continues with the new macOS App Store. There is a new Developer section, which shows off some of the best Developer tools and apps to help make life easier.
Categories
If you have already perused the aforementioned sections and still can’t find an app that you’re looking for, move to Categories. This section will show an array of categories to choose from, hopefully making it easier to find the app, or type of app, that you need.
Updates
The Updates section is exactly that, the home for updates. Whenever there is a new app update or if macOS update, this is where you will come. If there are no updates, it will just say “No Updates. All your apps are up to date”.
Featured Apps/Tips
Throughout this breakdown, we have talked a lot about how there are Featured Apps found in just about every section. This is something that has been vastly improved in macOS Mojave’s App Store.
Instead of just showing of screenshots of the various apps, there is now some editorializing done for each option. This will help you to make a more informed decision when it comes to purchasing or downloading an app.
From time-to-time, you also may find some tips and tricks found for some different highlighted apps. There are also some featured sections which show off a few different apps to choose from if you are working on a specific task.
Conclusion
macOS Mojave has a lot of goodies included, but one of my favorites is the new and improved macOS App Store. It will be interesting to see if any new changes come, or if this is the final look for future iterations of macOS.
Let us know what you think about the new macOS App Store and if you are excited to see Apple make a more concerted effort in this department. If you run into any issues, sound off in the comments and let us know if we can be of any help!
Andrew is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US.
He has written for a variety of sites over the years, including iMore, Android Central, Phandroid, and a few others. Now, he spends his days working for an HVAC company, while moonlighting as a freelance writer at night.
I have completely deleted XCode from my computer but App Store still shows XCode Update.
The reason I completely deleted it is because after numerous attempts costing much of my internet bandwidth the update refused to install. No reason was given for installation failure.
We looked into this issue and this is the best possible remedy for macOS Mojave we found. It appears to be a problem with how macOS indexes your HD for spotlight search.
Since we did not have this problem, we are not able to replicate and confirm it works.
Quit the App Store
Open System Preferences
Choose on Spotlight > Privacy tab
Select the Plus sign (+) and add your system hard drive (default name is usually Macintosh HD)
Close System Preferences
Restart App Store
Check Updates and see if XCode shows up
If XCode no longer shows up under Updates, follow the steps above but instead of adding your system hard drive, remove it by highlighting it and pressing the minus sign (-)
Spotlight will re-index your system hard drive
Let us know if this worked…or not!
If not, we’ll keep looking for other possibilities and solutions.
I have completely deleted XCode from my computer but App Store still shows XCode Update.
The reason I completely deleted it is because after numerous attempts costing much of my internet bandwidth the update refused to install. No reason was given for installation failure.
App Store Help failed to provide a solution.
Hi Roger,
We looked into this issue and this is the best possible remedy for macOS Mojave we found. It appears to be a problem with how macOS indexes your HD for spotlight search.
Since we did not have this problem, we are not able to replicate and confirm it works.
Quit the App Store
Open System Preferences
Choose on Spotlight > Privacy tab
Select the Plus sign (+) and add your system hard drive (default name is usually Macintosh HD)
Close System Preferences
Restart App Store
Check Updates and see if XCode shows up
If XCode no longer shows up under Updates, follow the steps above but instead of adding your system hard drive, remove it by highlighting it and pressing the minus sign (-)
Spotlight will re-index your system hard drive
Let us know if this worked…or not!
If not, we’ll keep looking for other possibilities and solutions.
Liz