How does the impossible app work?

How does the Mac App store work (desktop apps)?

• I am interested in creating a Mac OS X app but wondering how does the app store work. Here's some questions I have. 1. Do you need to create the app a certain way or can you create it like the past and just submit the app? If you already have an OS X app built, do you need to re-tweak it for the app store somehow? 2. When you submit an app, how does Apple add piracy protection to your app? What prevents someone from copying the file to another computer and running it? Right now, people enter registration code to get their app registered. But how does that work in this case?

• Answer:

  Submitting your app to the Mac App Store is not as easy as it is to just make your app and share it using your own mediums. For one, Apple has very rigorous rules for the interface of your program, called the Human Interface Guidelines (AKA the 'HIG'). If your program doesn't follow these Human Interface Guidelines, your app is going to be rejected from the Mac App Store. Remember Apple is a very picky company when it comes to design (a good point in favor I would say, but that's another story for another time), so making your apps as visually pleasant as possible and as friendly as possible is going to help you a lot in getting your app approved. Just like the iOS App Store, the review process can take a while, and if they ask you to change things, you better do. Second, your app must be original enough. Not something completely new or innovating, but something decently original. Apple gives space and allows apps to have business competitions with other apps, but if your app is like another one but with a different interface, then most likely it's going to be rejected. Finally, your app has to do something useful. You can happily make your own 'farts' app and distribute it to your friends and to the world in your own way, but now Apple has strict guidelines against this kind of apps. To answer your second question, it doesn't look like Apple adds any kind of piracy protection at all (correct me if I'm wrong, I am just an amateurish iOS developer and never made a program for Macs yet). But that's not exactly a bad thing, because as a developer, you are responsible for protecting your app. If you just rely in existing protections, you are going to have a hard time coping with the consequences because remember, a huge app store could protect its apps against piracy, and these apps live happy in the app store. But what happens if this general security measure gets broken? Bam, you opened a huge door to a bunch of pirates. If your app has it's own piracy protection system, the hackers will need to go through some extra steps and if your system is strong enough (and you are lucky enough), they are going to give up.