Apple has App Stores for various devices: in addition to the iPhone and iPad, you can also install apps on your Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch for a number of years. But they cannot be compared in terms of size. New figures are emerging from the Apple vs Epic Games lawsuit, showing how dominant the iOS App Store actually is. All other platforms don't come close.
It also explains why Apple has made moving apps from iOS to macOS easier with Project Catalyst. There is simply little supply on the Mac.
In 2019, these were the numbers:
- 1.1 million iOS apps
- 27,240 macOS apps
- 10,009 tvOS apps
The fact that the iPad is not mentioned separately here is because most apps nowadays are suitable for both platforms.
These are the figures for an average week in November 2019, when the following apps were submitted to Apple:
- 58,875 iPhone apps, of which 15,069 are new
- 681 Mac apps, of which 152 are new
- 142 Apple TV apps, of which 27 are new
Only 73 new apps for watchOS were submitted in the said week. If you're wondering why macOS and tvOS apps get approved much faster, it's because just a lot less are submitted for review.
Most of the numbers are from statements by Trystan Kosmynka, one of the executives in the App Store review process. Apple has more than 500 people reviewing 100,000 apps per week on a weekly basis. There would be a lot of overtime. Epic wants to use the figures to show that employees can hardly do their work properly because of the enormous workload.
Apple often highlights how many jobs have been created thanks to the App Store. But the documents also show that Apple can make you unemployed in one fell swoop by blocking an app. This happened at Tribe, for example, after another developer complained about it. Tribe no longer got an answer to emails about what was going on.
Apple TV never got off the ground as a gaming platform
One thing the figures make clear in any case: the number of apps for the iPhone is gigantic and few developers are willing to develop apps for tvOS and watchOS. to make. The App Store for tvOS has existed since the Apple TV HD appeared in 2015 (then called Apple TV 4). For the first time it was possible to install apps on the Apple TV yourself.
Still, Apple never promoted the device as a game console replacement and imposed all kinds of restrictions. For example, games were required to also support the Apple TV Remote to operate a game. Games were not allowed to be 100% dependent on a controller. That made it difficult to make really fun games and developers felt it was too much of a hassle to adapt their games specifically for a game platform that had not yet proven itself.
With watchOS apps it is good to know that they are often part of an iOS app.
Less and less enthusiasm for watchOS apps
With the Apple Watch there were other restrictions. For example, the apps were very slow in the beginning and many APIs were only available for Apple's own apps. Many early developers withdrew later. For example, there was an Instagram app for the Apple Watch, but when Apple demanded native apps, the developers did not see the point in putting any effort into it. The app was deleted and never came back. The same goes for Google Maps, eBay, Amazon and various other apps. In the Netherlands, De Telegraaf and Rabobank no longer saw any benefit in Apple Watch apps, probably because they were hardly used.