Recently, I have to move my app SimRecorder from Mac App Store to self publishing due to limitation of sandboxing.
My app interacts with simctl to control Xcode Simulators, and it has recently stopped working under sandboxing.
What’s SimRecorder
SimRecorder is an app that can create beautiful screenshots for iOS/iPadOS/visionOS apps by ultilising simulators screenshoting/recording capability.
It’s very easy now to make your app more appealing to showcase your apps. And you can easily create great media assets to share about your apps on social media for marketing purposes.
I have recently moved my SimRecorder app from Mac App Store to self publishing.
— An Tran (@antranapp) June 16, 2024
To celebrate this event and #WWDC24, I'm offering 50% discount code for the first 10 purchases until end of June.
Purchase now: https://t.co/dzto2b9idF pic.twitter.com/S0XaupeUkL
Migration tasks
To self-publish the app due to the lack of sandboxing, I need to implement the following important changes:
- Switch RevenueCat with Lemon Squezzy because RevenueCat doesn’t support managing license keys outside of the App Store.
- Add Sparkle for self-updating.
- Create a landing page because the Mac App Store landing page for my app is not available anymore.
I have decided to not migrate the purchases via In App Purchase in the Mac App Store to Lemon Squeezy because it would be very complicated to implement. If you have bought the Pro version via Mac App Store, please let me know, I’ll send you the license key manually.
Pros and Cons
By publishing the app in the Mac App Store, I can avoid a lot of unncessary distribution tasks as everything is fully managed by the Mac App Store. But to continue publishing the app via the Mac App Store, I’d need to find a way to interact with simctl from a sandboxed app, which is possible via a helper tool. But it’d distract me from improving the core features of SimRecorder.
By turning off sandboxing, and self-publishing the app, I have now more freedom to implement advanced features for the app that are not possible under sandboxing.
Special WWDC2024 offer
To celebrate this special moments, and also the great success of WWDC 2024, I’m offering 50% discount for the first 10 purchases from now until 31st June. Please use the discount code when purchasing: WWDC24
If you have any feedback and feature suggesions, please don’t hesitate to let me know
