AIR for MacOS - Use their App Store???

[William Spence]

I have a mobile app that I want to port to AIR for the desktop.  Windows will be easy, it is Mac that I am concerned with.  I haven't played in the MAC environment a whole lot, so I am just wondering about creating an App that will play nicely on their system.  So my questions are as follows:

1) Is it better to have an AIR installer that they can download from my website, or is it better to upload my app to their App Store for MacOS?

2) Does it cost anything to use the desktop App Store, are you required to pay Apple 30% for subscriptions if you use their App Store on MacOS?

I'd like to avoid paying Apple 30% the way that you have to on their mobile platform, but I have heard that if you don't use their app store, that your users will run into all kinds of security issues to get your app to run and I need to verify if that is true.

Thanks for any insights!

[OstrichFarmer]

If you want your app to get past Gatekeeper you'll need to sign it with an Apple Developer ID certificate. You are not required to distribute your app in the Mac App Store.

https://developer.apple.com/developer-id/

(I'm also figuring this stuff out, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)

[William Spence]

Thanks for the link OstrichFarmer. I was reading about Gatekeeper last night, and it is an interesting alternative that I may consider. The perks of the App Store is that it would be extremely easy for users to update their app if you submit an update, otherwise, you would have to email them to let them know about updates, or program a mechanism within your app to check for updates if there are any. But I REALLY don't want to have to use in-app purchases like on iOS.

Does anyone have any idea how to use the Gatekeeper Signature with AIR?

[OstrichFarmer]

I found this thread very helpful, particularly the post by stolennickname at the end:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1568459

Essentially, you create your app using adt with a throw-away self-signed certificate. Then you use the codesign utility with an Apple issued "Developer ID Application" certificate. This creates a Gatekeeper passing app. You may also use the productbuild and productsign utilities to package the app bundle, requiring a "Developer ID Installer" certificate.

Seems like you'll need to pay the Apple tax if you want to distribute your app in the Mac App Store:

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#in-app-purchase\