The chief way around this restriction was to buy a pricey group license. Additionally, many Mac apps sold via disk or download had limited permissions that allowed them only to be operated on a single computer. Now that downloading and updating apps is an exclusively electronic process that doesn't require disks, packaging materials and shipping, there's less of an environmental impact. However, the Mac App Store doesn't recognize updates for a computer's existing software apps you'll need to re-purchase the apps from the Mac App Store to receive automatic free updates for the apps. Read on to learn about a few key improvements that OS X Lion made to the Mac App Store.Īpple's Lion (v10.7) operating system, which was released in July 2011, brought some notable improvements to Mac App Store, allowing users to make in-application purchases and receive push notifications and adding an incremental update system that identifies, downloads and installs only the files that need updating, making the process faster. The Mac App Store is modeled after other Mac apps with built-in purchase utilities, like iTunes and iBooks, through which more than 15 billion songs and 130 million books had been purchased as of June 2011. After the Mac App Store opens, users can search for apps by name or keyword, browse for apps by category, view 'new and noteworthy' apps or check out staff favorites. To open the store on a computer, click the Mac App Store icon on the computer's desktop dock. The Mac App Store is similar in appearance and function to the already-existing App Store on iPhones and iPads. When the installation is complete, you will need to restart your Mac and launch the Mac App Store from the icon in your computer's dock. To get the Mac App Store, click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen, then choose 'software update.' After a dialog box appears, click the 'install' button.

The Mac App Store is compatible with OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) and available for free download when you upgrade to OS X Lion.

If your Mac is running an older operating system, you may still be able to download the Mac App Store. Simply look for the Mac App Store icon, which is a blue circle with a white outline and an 'A' in the middle.

The Mac App Store is preinstalled on Macs sold with OS X Lion (version 10.7) operating systems.

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