Open the Mac App Store Updates Section from a URL

Dec 13, 2011 - 3 Comments

URL to go to Mac App Store Updates tab

The next time you’re trying to tell someone how to update apps from the Mac App Store, why bother with a walkthrough when you can just send them a URL? Yup, you can send someone directly to the Mac App Store’s “Updates” portion just by using a link instead. This is a great trick for troubleshooting and for helping people to update their apps, and it works like any other link structure.


Try it out yourself, if you click here to launch the Mac App Store’s Updates or use the URL below, the Mac App Store application will launch and go directly to the “Updates” tab.

The URL for launching the App Store Updates section in OS X is as follows:

macappstore://showUpdatesPage

You can use that link in web pages, tweets, instant messages, and emails, as long as the recipient has the Mac App Store installed the URL will immediately launch the App Store and go directly to the Updates section (no, it won’t actually update anything without user input).

App Store icon

Not only is this helpful when fielding those family tech support phone calls and emails, but it’s really useful for developers too, and in fact it has a pretty cool story behind it. It turns out, that aforementioned MAS Updates URL is a result of Panic Software wishing to be able to provide their users with an ability to quickly update apps with a click:

This is where I tell you something amazing: I filed a bug with Apple and made this specific feature request, even proposing the URL format, and Apple added it to the App Store a couple versions later. The system worked!

How neat is that? This works in all modern versions of Mac OS X too.

Mac App Store Updates

There are a variety of other URL structures to launch apps and perform functions in Mac OS X too, including send messages, open specific apps, and more.

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Related articles:

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS, Tips & Tricks

3 Comments

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  1. it just work on safari
    :(

  2. esaruoho says:

    While it is neat that they added it, it does not work for me on OSX 10.6.8.
    macappstore://showUpdatesPage
    -does launch the MacAppStore application, but does not go into the Updates -tab, instead shows that twirly rotating circle thing and tries to “go” somewhere or “access” or “load” something.

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