Apple launched a full-fledged web version of its App Store yesterday (via 9to5Mac), which allows users to easily browse apps for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. The web app features the same tabs and categories as the native apps, and the existing app product pages have been redesigned as well.
The App Store provides access to millions of apps to more than a billion users, and it deserves a proper web interface, just like the Microsoft Store and the Google Play Store. While app product pages were already available on the web via the apps.apple.com domain, there was no built-in search engine and no easy way to check out the most popular apps.
The new App Store web app features the same curated “Today” page as the native apps, and you can click on the upper-left corner of the app to switch between the different stores for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and more. Overall, the app is well designed, and if you browse app product pages from a Mac, you’ll see a link to open these apps in the Mac App Store.
If Apple is generally slow to make its online services available on the web, there are now proper web apps for Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Maps. The latter launched a year ago and has yet to drop its ‘beta’ tag.
