Apple Extends Deadline for Sandboxing of Mac App Store Apps to June 1

Apple today announced that it has extended the deadline for Mac App Store apps to implement sandboxing until June 1. The requirement had been set to go into effect on March 1 after already having been delayed from last November, but continued uncertainty about implementation and its effects on app functionality has caused Apple to again slow down the transition.

We have extended the deadline for sandboxing your apps on the Mac App Store from March 1st to June 1st to provide you with enough time to take advantage of new sandboxing entitlements available in OS X 10.7.3 and new APIs in Xcode 4.3.

We first profiled the sandboxing requirements, which would restrict apps from initiating operations outside of their operational confines, back in November. While users could override the sandboxing with their own commands, compromised apps would be prevented from affecting a user's entire system. But concerns over the effect of the requirement on apps requiring system-wide file access or allowing inter-app scripting have given some pause about how sandboxing should be implemented.

sandboxing
The issues was revisited earlier this month as the deadline approached, with several developers noting that there were still questions and concerns over how to implement sandboxing in their applications. One developer noted to MacRumors at the time that there were likely to be major issues if Apple were to enforce the requirement on March 1, given lingering bugs and other issues, and Apple has clearly taken those concerns to heart and given itself and developers an additional three months to work through the issues.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

baryon Avatar
174 months ago
Slowly moving towards dumbing down normal applications to just iOS-style "Apps"…

Probably the next step will be that apps can no longer run in the background, except for certain services that Apple deems worthy of multi-tasking, and everything will be full screen so we we'll have to switch between apps all the time.

After that, the keyboard will be removed, and a single button will be added. All further human-computer interaction will be automatically determined by the OS. Human presence will no longer be necessary, as the OS will be able to make better decisions on its own. Soon, computers will rule the world and it will be a better world. For computers.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikus Avatar
174 months ago
Slowly moving towards dumbing down normal applications to just iOS-style "Apps"...
I used to think using a Mac as a graphic designer meant better support for professionals from Apple.

That was 5 years ago before the iPhone. I wonder how long until I switch back to Windows.

ps. LOL @ anyone downranking my comment. as if being a professional and requiring flexibilty was a bad thing. by flexibility, i mean options and choice, two words that make apple very uncomfortable.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
unplugme71 Avatar
174 months ago
Sandboxing is great. I want a more secure OS. But certain apps need to be allowed to run in the background.

If Apple keeps restricting everything, Windows will succeed even more soley on the fact that alternatives are not 'better'. Further making Microsoft think Windows is so great based on sales, rather than feedback that it sucks but its the only OS that doesn't restrict.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Renzatic Avatar
174 months ago
its actually making OSX more secure and stable.
And thank God for that, huh? Before the sandbox, OSX had, like 50,000,000 viruses, and crashed every 15 minutes.

No wait. That's what everyone says about Windows. Guess we'll have to do some retconning a bit to paint the sandbox in a more positive light. Okay. Here goes. Before the sandbox, OSX had a bunch of viruses and was unstable. Windows? You'd press the button on the computer, and it wouldn't turn on. Ever. Why people paid money for that, I have no idea. OSX just worked...sometimes. Now, with the sandbox, it works all the time. There we go.

Apple does it again!

How does a secure and stable operating system become more secure and stable?
It's securererer now.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rjohnstone Avatar
174 months ago
Pretty soon we will have to jailbreak our Macs so we can side load apps. :rolleyes:
There is a fine line between secure and usable.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dukebound85 Avatar
174 months ago
its actually making OSX more secure and stable.

at the expense of dumbing the app down
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)