For those of us who live in the apple ecosystem, the app store is second nature. It’s an essential part of the apple experience and a walkthrough with any apps you want on your device. So I was pretty shocked to read that until today, the link app apps.Apple.com it can send you to a page with information about the app store, but it doesn’t actually take you to tell the digital storefront.
That’s right, it took until the year 2025 for Apple to create a browser version of the App Store.
Perhaps it hasn’t been seen as necessary since the App Store was pre-loaded on any Apple device. I didn’t see many edge cases where I wanted to look at the browser rather than actually use the app store on one of my devices, although I’m sure as I’ve said it now, I’ll be getting it right within a week. But still, the first app store was fired 17 years ago. Which, especially in the age of technology, is quite a long time.
Either way, the Browser App Store lets you choose your hardware platform from the far left dropdown, so you can use cross-platform software wherever you are on the web. There’s also a search field and a list of app categories to search through. All the things you would expect from a real app store, just in the browser. The entry of certain applications will prompt you to open a list in the device’s application store where a button usually allows you to purchase software. What left me surprised again was how long it took to create and ask who would use it.
