Dear App Review & App Store policy team,
I am writing as an independent macOS developer who has spent more than the last six months building TilesWM, a full‑featured window‑manager that rivals existing products such as Magnet, Divvy and BetterSnapTool. The app works exactly like those solutions: it uses the Accessibility (AX) API to move and resize arbitrary windows, registers global hot‑keys, and stores user preferences locally in ~/Library/Application Support/<bundle‑identifier>.
When I attempt to submit TilesWM through App Store Connect the validation process failed with two errors, one of which was relatively easily solvable with the help of "ssmith_c" and "Quinn".
The other, the hard blocker:
- Sandbox not enabled – the app does not contain the required com.apple.security.app-sandbox = true entitlement.
but:
The same accessibility entitlement is absent from the binaries of Magnet, Divvy, BetterSnapTool and other window‑manager apps that are already available on the Mac App Store.
Those applications were on the Store before Apple introduced the mandatory sandbox requirement (≈ macOS 10.7.3-ish). Consequently, they continue to operate without a sandbox while new entrants are forced either to abandon the platform or to distribute outside the App Store.
This situation creates an uneven playing field that contradicts Apple’s stated commitment to an open and competitive ecosystem. All developers pay the same $99 annual fee and should follow identical review guidelines; yet legacy window‑manager apps enjoy a privileged exemption that new developers cannot obtain, effectively granting them a perpetual non‑compete advantage.
What I am asking for
- Clarification: Is a missing Sandbox entitlement truly unsupported for Mac App Store distribution or is there a way to "request" an exception?
- Policy action: Please evaluate an option to provide a concrete path forward so that TilesWM can be submitted without having to abandon the App Store.
- Point of contact – If this issue falls outside the scope of App Review, kindly direct me to the team or individual responsible for macOS sandbox policy decisions.
I remain committed to distributing my app through the Mac App Store because it is the primary channel users trust and expect. I believe that a fair resolution will benefit developers, Apple, and end‑users alike by expanding the selection of high‑quality window‑management tools.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to a constructive response and to working together toward an equitable solution.
Respectfully,
Denis Steinhorst
Full‑Stack Engineer & macOS enthusiast
Bundle ID: dev.steinhorst.tileswm