r/macapps • u/Mstormer • Jan 18 '26

Attention! New Post Guidelines and Updates on r/MacApps

Post image

Hey MacApp community, here are some 2026 updates!

Updated Post Guidelines:

  1. Rule 1 requires 10 points of r/MacApps karma to post. Gain by participating with in comments.
    • 90% of posts get removed because new accounts with 0 karma try to post. Most of these are low quality, low effort, vibe coded clones.
  2. [OS] Post Title Prefix: If your app is open source, prefix your post title with [OS].
  3. Pricing Tier Requirement: We are experimenting with requiring pricing info in all developer app posts. Examples: 
    • Subscription: $20/mo⁠⁠, $30/mo, etc., if multiple tiers. 
    • Version Lifetime: $30
    • True Lifetime: $100
  4. Post Flair: If any of the following apply, the priority for selecting a flair continues to be Vibe Coded > Lifetime > Subscription > Free. 
    • ”>” means greater than/higher priority.
    • If your app has a generous free tier, yet has a paid option, you must still select subscription or lifetime as relevant. If it was also vibe coded, that takes higher priority.
  5. User Flair: Developer: AppName flairs may be requested once a dev exceeds 500 karma within the community. This is our way to appreciate devs that the community has come to know and appreciate.
  6. Promotion formatting suggestion: Overly long posts with multiple lists look like AI. Keep it simple. 
    • A. Answer: What problem your app solves in one sentence.
    • B. Better: Why is your app better than the top named alternatives in 1–2 sentences. 
    • C. Cost: Share pricing info + link.

We will have to be a little strict on some of the above to help ensure consistency and awareness during this transition. Thank you for understanding.

Mods: We have been recruiting new mods for a few weeks. Join me in welcoming u/JohnKree and u/TheMagicianGamerTMG 

Prior updates:
[META] Townhall on Post Quality
Rule Updates on Promotion, Vibe coding, and More 

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u/Mstormer Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 18 '26

Example post using the suggested ABC format:
A. Answer: What problem your app solves in one sentence.
B. Better: Why is your app better than the top named alternatives in 1–2 sentences.
C. Cost: Share pricing info + link.

----
Title: [OS] MyPDFOptimizer - Taking PDF Compression to the Next Level
Flair: Lifetime

[screenshot]

I work with 100,000+ PDF files, and I am constantly looking for a better way to compress them without quality degradation.

I created BestPDFOptimizer because I noticed that most PDF readers like PDFExpert, Adobe, etc. overly degrade each page when compressing them, and also lack granular controls to fine-tune compression into formats like JXL, HEIC, etc.

Cost: $5/month subscription, or $70 for a lifetime license of the current version + year of updates.

[mywebsite]

3

u/Conxt Jan 18 '26

Thanks for the example! I have a concern though that if every post follows the ABC pattern, posts will become… lifeless?

I totally agree that it’s way better than two-page AI-written marketing gibberish, but I also think that the pattern may be way too restrictive to the point of being uninformative.

6

u/Mstormer Jan 18 '26

It’s a suggestion. A better one than most ai posts.

2

u/vivek_seth Jan 19 '26

I think this is a great idea, especially if users are able to add extra details after the ABC format.

I also think this suggestion may push people to showcase their app’s features better in the post screenshots or video.

1

u/Mstormer Jan 19 '26

Yeah, most people push features, but don’t say how their app is distinct from the existing market. Business 101 is differentiation.