Apple Store version or direct download

I started with the direct download version, and that works well. And it checks for new versions and directs you to the webpage if there is a new version. But the Apple App Store version can automatically update.

So do people prefer one over the other?

Some App Store versions of apps don't have the same features because the App Store restricts various permissions. But it appears that Resolve doesn't have any problems and the only difference is where the DB and other files are stored. (So if you do download the App Store version, it won't see the projects from the direct version.)

Are there any features in the App Store version that don't work? Do you find the App Store Version's automatic updates beneficial? (I can see in a production environment you would not want auto-updates in the middle of a project that might lead to changes in results or even new bugs. I'm not in a production environment right now.)

Thanks!

I feel we’re safer going directly to BMD for updates and avoid any current or future things Apple might to in its infinite wisdom.

I wouldn't touch the App Store version with a 10 foot pole.

Firstly, it almost certainly will have limitations - at least with regard to third party plugins. I don't know if audio VSTs work, but I'm certain I've read that OFX video plugins don't work. Or at least, are not supported by their provider. Example: BorisFX's Continuum, quote: "Note that the Apple App Store version of Resolve is not fully supported and direct downloads of Resolve from the Blackmagic Design site should be used instead."

Secondly, you're giving 30% to Apple that you could give to BMD. Or at least you're paying some extra to Apple: in the UK Resolve Studio shows as £299 on the App Store, where in the UK you can buy a Fusion Studio dongle for £270, which gives the ability to run both Fusion Studio and Resolve Studio for one single price. Or a Resolve-only online activation key is also £270.

Thirdly, as you said regarding automatic updates, most people in a professional environment would want to be in control of that themselves. And even in a hobbyist environment. Downloading a new version from a website every 2-6 weeks isn't a huge amount of effort. I'd rather have to do that than risk an automatic update happening to a version that had some bug that majorly affected me.

Also, is there even a way to downgrade on the App Store? I just had a look and could find no way to download older versions of any of the few apps I have installed from the App Store. And a quick Google didn't find any answers.

If a nasty bug appears in a new version and Support/the community recommends downgrading, you might be out of luck on the App Store.

So yeah, I wouldn't touch it. The only apps I have on the app store are small throw-away free things, and a couple of utility apps that were only available there. Specifically, a nice menu bar clock, and a network share automounter. And it was only yesterday that I was thinking about emailing the author of the Automounter to ask if I could get a download version, because I recently duplicated my drive and installed it in a second machine, and for some reason that second machine now won't log properly into App Store (even though I'm fully logged in to iCloud). So for now I can't use that app on the second machine at all.

Imagine if you had a problem like that and couldn't open Resolve?

The Mac App Store version does have limitations and pitfalls. There's really no downside to the direct download version (well, if you use the direct download Studio version you will need to keep the activation key safe and not lose it).

If you get the dongle instead of the activation key you get free access to Fusion Studio 16+ as well, but if you're on a laptop that might not be practical.

Thanks all! I deleted the App Store version and upgraded the direct download version.

I have to say that I've never loaded an older version of any software, but bold as I am I also don't generally upgrade during a project and the store version could do that.

Interesting story: I've been running the latest public beta of MacOS on my MacBook Pros since MacOS X came out. (I think it wasn't "public" beta in the early days and I have the no-fee developer-ish account which at this point doesn't give access to developer betas.) So a decade of betas and no show-stoppers. Again, not in a production environment where a client is breathing down my neck.

The latest Resolve release is better with my major Resolve bug, but not totally fixed. I have a couple-minute-long interview clip that I tracked a Color power window to a face. Then I've gone back and manually dragged the window to fix some issues where it's 2D tracking but the face is 3D and the oval ends up affecting some of the background and becomes obvious. At some point, I had created enough keyframes that it becomes unstable and if I adjust a handful more it crashes Resolve. On the previous version, it crashed within 3-4 new keyframes but now it goes a dozen or more... but still eventually crashes.

Every once in awhile, an update might involve a physical change to the database. When that happens, you likely don’t want to go back to a version earlier than the version with the revised database as those changes can’t be supported for any new projects you begin after the version with the database changes.

Most times it’s not an issue and a serious problem on 16.4 might cause you to remove that version and reinstall 16.3 for example.