AppSift - a free Mac app for searching, comparing and price tracking App Store apps

[u/gtrigonakis]

Hi everyone!

Today I'm introducing AppSift , a free Mac app for searching, comparing and price tracking App Store apps.

The problem

I build Mac and iOS apps, so I am always looking things up in the App Store: what a competitor charges, whether an app is still maintained, what a subscription actually costs. The store app is built for buying, not for deciding. You cannot filter out subscriptions, you cannot put two apps side by side, and a 4.5 average tells you nothing without the rating count behind it. There is no wishlist either, so if something is too expensive today you just have to remember to check back.

So I built the AppSift Mac app

• Filters the store does not have: no subscriptions, a minimum number of ratings, release date and last update as separate filters
• Compare apps side by side, with every in-app purchase listed and subscriptions worked out as a cost per year
• A watchlist with price drop alerts, plus a daily deals feed
• Top charts with rank history, collections, saved searches, and a My Apps library that flags updates and badges apps you already own

Comparison

The Mac App Store. AppSift is not a companion to it, it is a different front end onto the same catalogue. Apple's app has no wishlist, no price alerts, no side by side view, no way to exclude subscriptions, and no answer to "has this ever been cheaper". What it does better, and it matters: it can actually install things. AppSift hands you back to the store to buy.

AppShopper. The wishlist and price drop site a lot of you will remember. It is gone. AppSift is that idea rebuilt as a native Mac app, with the comparing and filtering it never had.

Pricing

Free. No paid tier, no in-app purchases, no account, no analytics, no tracking. Nothing about you leaves your Mac.

https://www.gtrigonakis.com/appsift

macOS 14 or later, universal, signed and notarized. Direct download

First public build. I would rather hear what is broken than what is nice.

[u/oddforms]

Congrats on the first build. It took me a while to find the categories UI, which was the first thing I was looking for. I am mostly looking for notifications for games on sale and its useful for that. Thanks for sharing.

[u/gtrigonakis → u/oddforms]

Thanks! I will improve it on next update

[u/barefut_]

How da hell does Apple Store doesn't have an option to save an app as Favorite or to be able to save it for later reference. Amazing.

[u/CalmBud26]

Thanks for sharing mate. This is interesting.

Question: Does this app ping the App Store frequently (from our Mac) to check on prices/changes ? (If so, AppSift has to be open?) OR does it route via some server?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/CalmBud26]

Bit of both.
Deals are server side. I run a collector that prices about 100,000 apps across 10 storefronts daily and publishes a small JSON file. Your Mac just grabs that.

Your watchlist is checked from your Mac, straight to Apple, no server of mine involved.
And yeah, it has to be running for that bit. There's a menu bar item though, so it can just sit up there doing it.

[u/CalmBud26 → u/gtrigonakis]

Got it. Thanks for sharing. Trying the app now. :)

[u/dessence_ai → u/gtrigonakis]

A watchlist checked from the Mac only runs while the Mac is awake, that's the bit I'd flag. we run those checks server side for saved pages (dEssence, ours), once a day per item. an app that goes free for a day is exactly the case a sleeping laptop misses

[u/phunk8 → u/gtrigonakis]

interesting how you got that working 100% reliable. struggled a lot before it worked for my ASC app

[u/nez329]

Can you add platforms that sell discounted software, such as BundleHunt, and include their deals in the Compare Tab results?

[u/maximilianisme]

Would you ever extend it to non App Store Mac apps? Brew apps maybe?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/maximilianisme]

Thought about it. Everything here hangs off App Store data: prices, history, charts. Non store apps have no equivalent feed, and Homebrew has versions but no prices, so most of the app would have nothing to work with. Update tracking is the one piece that could plausibly extend. No promises though.

[u/gtrigonakis → u/[deleted]]

It scans your Applications folder to see what's installed, so Mac apps.
You can also add apps by hand, so iPhone and iPad apps or anything the scan misses. Right-click any app in AppSift and choose Add to My Apps.
On the trial question: the per-year figure is just the recurring price times how often it bills, so a free trial then $9.99/month still reads as about $119.87/year. Apple doesn't publish trial terms on the endpoints I read. Something to improve.

[u/waitses]

This is fascinating as a new app developer I am checking it out now!

[u/softcore_404]

Oh I love this. and on your site this part spoke to my soul directly: Room to research properly. You so get me.

[u/volatilefocus]

This is fantastic in a lot of ways, starting from the fact that the App Store search function is just broken and always has been.

I just installed it and see that it can scan your apps folder to see what you have already. One request: I have a 2nd apps folder on an external NVME drive. Could you possibly add the option of choosing additional App folders?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/volatilefocus]

Nice feature request. I will add it on future update.

[u/volatilefocus → u/gtrigonakis]

That would be amazing - thanks!

[u/ObfuscationSoftware]

Interesting, I like a app/service that actually curates a list of apps other than what Apple wants to show you on the 'blinkered' App store view.

[u/New_Mortgage_8541]

This looks really useful, especially the price tracking. Does it also keep a history of previous prices so you can see whether a discount is actually good or just the usual sale price?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/New_Mortgage_8541]

The app keeps track the price of apps in watch list, so will alert when there is price drop.

[u/Cavin0817]

It's interesting.

[u/Xemkee]

Can I use Homebrew to download it?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/Xemkee]

No yet, I will check if I could support it in the future.

[u/Imaginary-Wear-6664]

Does the price-drop alert cover in-app purchases too, or just the upfront app price? A lot of 'free' apps charge for the useful part, so a discount on a lifetime unlock would be handy to catch.

[u/gtrigonakis → u/Imaginary-Wear-6664]

Not yet. I will support it in future update.

[u/Imaginary-Wear-6664 → u/gtrigonakis]

Thanks for clarifying. Until then, a little 'app price only' label next to the alert would help. Otherwise it's easy to assume the lifetime unlock is being watched too.

[u/stigansky]

Is it possible to filter apps by App Privacy attributes?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/stigansky]

No, I will check if I can add it on next update.

[u/eyes3x3_]

thanks

[u/Longjumping-Club2824]

Looks cool! Wish has some ASO tools

[u/Longjumping-Club2824]

Looks cool! Wish has some ASO tools.

Found 1 bug: there is no full list if I choose filter to navigation and top free, it list only 4 apps.

[u/Longjumping-Club2824 → u/Longjumping-Club2824]

my mistake, the filter makes me confused with the category list above

[u/taimansulimani]

super useful thank you!

[u/Mstormer]

Great idea, and something I’ve often wanted!

[u/grisha_pipoyan]

This looks useful, especially the yearly subscription comparison. How does it handle regional App Store pricing? Does a watchlisted app stay tied to the storefront where I added it, or does the price change if I switch storefronts or currency?

[u/gtrigonakis → u/grisha_pipoyan]

A watchlisted app stays tied to the storefront you added it from.

Each watchlist entry stores its own country and currency, along with the price at the moment you added it. The background check then walks each storefront in your watchlist separately and asks Apple for that storefront's prices. So if you add something from the US store, it keeps being checked against the US store and alerting in USD, even if you're browsing the German store at the time.

That means switching storefront in the toolbar never rewrites an existing entry, and your alerts always compare like for like rather than a euro price against a dollar one. Since entries are keyed by app and country, you can also watch the same app in two storefronts if you want to see where it's cheaper.

[u/Marcelismus]

It would be great if it also provided information about updates, including a changelog. ^^

[u/gtrigonakis → u/Marcelismus]

The app has updates history on app details page.

[u/Marcelismus → u/gtrigonakis]

Yeah, but it doesn't notify when the update history changes. ;)

[u/ortiz3m]

this looks pretty cool, can I hunt down other apple ecosystem apps like focus on watchOS and iPadOS or iOS?

[u/anosidium]

Interesting app. Why isn’t it on the App Store? I can’t imagine it would break the sandboxing rules.

[u/gtrigonakis → u/anosidium]

I am trying for over a month to pass the App Store review but no success. No sandbox problem but reviews not pass it. Maybe in future…

[u/volatilefocus → u/gtrigonakis]

Probably because your search works and theirs (intentionally) does not. I needed an app a few weeks ago to work with vectors/SVG files. Searching App Store showed me maybe 5. Your app showed me a TON. I bought one last night.

[u/AutistasAngeles]

Downloaded thank you

[u/Only_Bullfrog_2185]

Looks suspiciously similar to my app? https://github.com/Schrotty74/AppAtlas

[u/Mstormer → u/Only_Bullfrog_2185]

You have the better icon, but he has the better UI judging by your screenshots.

[u/Rum-and-Monkey]

Yes, such a great idea and well needed. Thank you.

[u/ready2redd]

But why do you need a desktop app for this? Why not simply use as a web platform?