My free open source app Stop The Mac App Store stops Safari from automatically opening the App Store app. When Apple redesigned https://apps.apple.com yesterday, as reported by 9to5Mac and others, I initially believed that the new design rendered Stop The Mac App Store obsolete, because App Store pages on the web no longer automatically open the App Store app. On further testing, however, it appears that my app is still useful.
I had forgotten about an issue that I blogged about in early 2024: Safari treats App Store URLs as Universal Links. Notice that the App Store web page for my app StopTheMadness Pro has a banner “Open in the App Store app” at the top, which indicates a Universal Link.
If you enter the URL https://apps.apple.com/app/stopthemadness-pro/id6471380298 in the address bar, Safari opens the web page. And if you click the “View in Mac App Store” button on the web page, the App Store app opens to the StopTheMadness Pro product page. So far, so good. The new App Store website is fine; it turns out that the problem is getting to the website in the first place, because clicked links behave differently than URLs entered in the address bar. If you you click an App Store link such as https://apps.apple.com/app/stopthemadness-pro/id6471380298 in a non-private Safari window, Safari opens the App Store app instead of loading the App Store website.
In a private window, Safari asks your permission first before opening the App Store app. Strangely, Safari asks the same question a second time if you cancel the first time. If you cancel both times, the apps.apple.com web page opens.
You can command-click an App Store link in Safari to open the website in a new tab instead of opening the App Store app. So that’s one workaround for the problem, as long as you always remember to command-click. Another workaround, as you may have guessed, is to use my app Stop The Mac App Store. With Stop The Mac App Store installed, clicking an App Store link in Safari simply opens the linked web page, in both private and non-private windows.
The only problem with Stop The Mac App Store is that clicking the “View in Mac App Store” button on apps.apple.com triggers a permission prompt. But you can suppress the prompt forever by opening the page in a non-private window and clicking Always Allow. (The Always Allow option does not appear in a Safari private window.)
The rumors of the demise of Stop The Mac App Store are greatly exaggerated. I’m sorry for starting those rumors.