Meet Setapp: the Netflix of Mac apps

Subscription service Setapp could be the post-App Store future

SUBSCRIPTION-BASED apps are one of the biggest trends in software right now. After Adobe proved how successful it could be for pros with Creative Cloud, lots of consumer apps are beginning to experiment with it as a source of income – especially with Apple announcing that it would allow more apps on the App Store to use subscriptions.

The problem is making this work for us, the users: if we use a dozen apps, and they all want a subscription, it could really add up. The reason Creative Cloud works so well is that it offers a range of software, but most of the Mac apps we know and love are from indies with just one or two products. But there may be a solution.

Setapp ( setapp.com) is a new service, currently in beta, that promises to be the Netflix of Mac software, providing you with access to over 40 apps from different developers, ranging from useful little utilities to big creative software. You get the likes of HTML5 animation studio app Hype; word processor Ulysses; iPhone data transfer app iMazing 2; duplicate file finder Gemini II; personal finance software Chronicle; and lots more.

At the moment, the planned price at launch is $9.99 per month, and the whole thing is really easy to use. You download the Setapp app, sign up, and a folder is added to your Application folder, containing icons for all available apps. To use one, just double-click it like any other; an installer screen appears and the app is downloaded, ready for use. It’s simplicity itself, and having all the apps at your fingertips even before you technically install them is especially cool.

In a world where more people than ever are willing to try software, but few are willing to pay, Setapp is a really bold experiment, bringing the Mac app community closer together. Developers don’t have to worry about the restrictions the Mac App Store enforces, and users get the latest versions, with new apps added in the future.

Most importantly, there’s nothing like it on any other platform. With an even more rounded collection of apps, we’d go so far as to say Setapp could be the Mac’s killer app for the future in a way the Mac App Store should have been, but never was – cementing it as the computer platform with the best tools, readily available.