Good Bye, Mac App Store

Robert, 2015-04-13 14:00:00 +0200

After four good years, BetterZip has left the Mac App Store. We leave without drama or hard feelings, but I am no longer able to maintain a version of BetterZip for sale through my website and at the same time another version limited in many ways to comply with the rules Apple enforces for apps sold through its store. More importantly, I don’t think that you should have to experience these inconvenient limitations in my app. The Mac App Store did two things for us: it handled your purchase and it kept your copy of BetterZip up-to-date. Purchases through my website are handled by BMT Micro with whom I have partnered since 2006 when I first released BetterZip 1.0 and in all these years I haven’t had a single complaint or problem. As for updating, BetterZip can update itself automatically just fine.

As many of you have noticed, the latest version of BetterZip 2.3.4 has never been available in the Mac App Store (MAS). That’s because this version contained new features and I wasn’t allowed to add any new features in an update without also adding Sandboxing which is at the center of the limitations I mentioned above. Anyone who purchased a license in the Mac App Store can download version 2.3.4 from my website and replace the MAS version with it. The direct version will recognize your license (you need to have started the MAS version at least once before the upgrade) and work without any limitations.

Still with me? Good. All this comes in preparation of the imminent release of BetterZip 3. The new version has many new features, some of which are really big additions. The biggest being the new Direct Mode which lets you directly create and modify archives which makes a huge difference when working with large archives. Also new: support for AppleScript. These two are just teasers, the rest will be revealed in a few weeks time. If you are interested in participating in the beta test, drop me a line:

All customers who purchased BetterZip in the Mac App Store will be able to benefit from the discounted upgrade price just like customers who purchased in my web store. If you buy a license for BetterZip 2 now, the upgrade to version 3 will be free!