Buy once, install everywhere with Mac App Store
One of my favorite parts about the new Mac App Store is that it is "buy one, run everywhere" just like iOS apps on the iPad or iPhone/iPod touch. It has always been the case that you can buy an app at the iOS App Store and use it on all of your iOS devices.
"Desktop" software has often been frustratingly limited to one or two computers. I'm thinking especially of the new Microsoft Office suite, but there are many, many other apps (especially ones from Adobe) which ties a license to a single (or sometimes two) machine.
If you buy, say, The Incident for Mac for $3 from the Mac App Store, you can use it on all of your Macs.
Simply launch the Mac App Store on your second (or third or fourth, etc) computer and look under "Purchases" and you will see all of the apps that you have purchased. Apps which are already installed will be shown as "Installed" and greyed out. Apps you can install will be shown in a black box labeled "Install." Click it and the app will automatically download and install to your /Applications/ folder.
If you want to go right to that app's page, just tap-err, I mean click! the app icon and it will take you to the appropriate page.
I'd love to see the iOS App Store be updated to have a list of purchases that I have made so I know which apps I have purchased but not yet installed. The Mac App Store's purchase history page is much better than the way iTunes manages your iOS purchases. Maybe Apple could call its next event "Back to the iOS!"
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One of my favorite parts about the new Mac App Store is that it is "buy one, run everywhere" just like iOS apps on the iPad or...
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Nobody mentions that all ones machines must be on or updated to 10.6.6. When one of these is your bread winner with valuable data and potentially incompatible apps with the new system, then you don't upgrade just to have the Appstore. In that case you need an old-fashionned license for the AppStore purchase to use it on your other machine.
January 15 2011 at 3:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyFor people confused about how to get the App Store installed on their machines, I've written a blog post about it here: http://fatwalr.us/2011/01/how-to-install-app-store-for-mac/ . Hope this helps!
January 10 2011 at 10:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySorry if this seems a redundant question. Been thinking about getting just iPhoto '11 upgrade vs. the iLife '11 family pack so that we can put on both Mac and laptop. Are you saying that if we buy just the iPhoto '11 upgrade from the App store we can then put it on both the Mac and laptop instead of having to buy the family pack disc?
January 07 2011 at 3:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI thought I read "per household"... Well at my place my wife and I have separate iTunes accounts (that are linked) and we can share iOS apps - though I must admit updating is a pain.
However, my question is whether this situation will work over the OSX app store. Will she be able to use iWork if I buy it on my iTunes account?
Ho do you share iOS apps? My wife and I have always had a single account, but we've got friends who had separate accounts and it drove them nuts. They ended up closing one account and merging together so that they didn't have to buy apps twice.
January 07 2011 at 9:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyTo share iOS apps, I simply shared our iTunes accounts.
If I remember correctly I turned on home sharing under the advanced menu and my wife's account appeared in the iTunes sidebar. Then when I went to that account I had to put in her password and username and from there I had access to her iTunes account.
After that it is just a matter of opening up her apps section and dragging and dropping the apps you want into your iTunes account.
The updating pain comes from the fact that these apps are downloaded in her name so that you need to put in her name and password into the app store when you download updates and you can only download those updates on your phone.
I do love that I can use apps I buy on both my MBP and my Mac mini without rebuying. It's effing stupid that this is not the norm with computer software.
January 06 2011 at 10:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou can download the apps on multiple macs using the same Apple ID. I downloaded Angry Birds on my MBP and then installed it on my iMac. My question is what about software I previously purchased that is now on the App Store. Ex. - I already have a copy of iWork 09 I purchased. I only purchased a single license, but now the same software is available on the App Store. Should I not be able to download this on other macs I own too? Will this multiple mac deal be retroactive to previous purchases?
January 06 2011 at 8:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyApple Mac App store launched with 1000 apps - http://sanreflects.blogspot.com/
January 06 2011 at 6:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySince Mac App Store purchases are only for personal use, your purchase for institutional use would be considered a contract/license violation.
January 06 2011 at 5:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt does seem to be suggesting that I can't purchase any apps - such as iWorks or Aperture for example - on my work computer for commercial use on my work computer. That is, apps from the app store can only be used for personal purposes. If this is correct, that's a pretty big limitation.
January 07 2011 at 12:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI don't understand all of you saying there is no way in iTunes to see your purchases???
You can go into your account settings and see a history of everything purchased? Right?
You can see all your purchased iOS apps listed under the Apps tab? Right?
You can easily create a smart playlist that automatically displays everything (music, movies, etc.) that you've purchased through iTunes? Right?
How many other ways do you need? I guess one more.
I think you should test your own funky suggestions out before you type out a response.
If you have 2 Macs (you obviously don't), the purchased iOS (read: not Mac) apps do not automatically sync between them.
This is why sites like TUAW have elaborate/crazy Dropbox type suggestions on how to sync an iTunes Library between multiple Macs.
Get it, now? Mac App Store has a feature that iOS App Store doesn't.
Thats the way it should be done everywhere. Software licensees should be tied to the person not the hardware.
January 06 2011 at 4:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyExcept that it's tied to 5 computers you own (ie: hardware), though you could somehow de-authorize them - but this option isn't there for Mac App Store.
January 07 2011 at 12:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply@ciaran, I'm not aware of anywhere official that says there's a 5 computer limit.
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