BBEdit, an advanced text editor made by Bare Bones Software, has returned to Mac App Store after a nearly five-year hiatus. BBEdit 12 packs in 300+ new features and refinements since BareBones pulled it from Mac App Store in October 2014, like full 64-bit support, Git integration and Mojave-specific features like Dark Mode support and much more.
Prior BBEdit updates added other useful features like Split View support, Touch Bar shortcuts on MacBook Pros, advanced text extractions allowing you to locate and collect search results into a single text document and much, much more.
In March, the app received an important update bringing “an improved sandboxing experience” in preparation for today’s Mac App Store launch.
Realizing its strict policies were driving major macOS developers away from Mac App Store, Apple at last year’s WWDC announced it’d relax some of the requirements to permit developers like BareBones to sell their apps through Mac App Store without violating Apple’s rules or forcing them to cripple functionality versus their non-Mac App Store counterparts.
To ensure the smooth transition, the Cupertino technology giant has worked closely with select developers to help them bring their apps to Mac App Store. Indeed, thanks to the updated sandboxing security, several major developers have been able to make Mac App Store versions of their apps that don’t compromise on features.
Panic’s Transmit FTP client debuted on Mac App Store last November. And in January, Microsoft for the first time began offering Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint on the store.
According to Apple’s WWDC 2018 announcement, several other major apps are expected to launch on Mac App Store, including Lightroom CC from Abobe and select apps by such developers as Serif, Bloom, Feral, Corel, Aspyr, Black Magic Design, Intua and Houseparty.
BBEdit’s been the go-to tool for web site designers, writers and software developers for more than 25 years now, filing as one of the oldest classic Mac apps in active development.
Some of its intelligent features include:
- Grep pattern matching
- Search and replace across multiple files
- Project definition tools
- Code folding
- FTP and SFTP open and save
- Git and Subversion integration
- AppleScript and macOS Unix scripting support
- Text and code completion
- Robust HTML markup tools
- Function navigation and syntax coloring for numerous source code languages
For more, read all about BBEdit 12 and take the full feature tour.
The app’s features are available to your free of charge for 30 days. After the trial ends, you can continue using BBEdit’s editing capabilities with no nag screens or unsolicited interruptions for free, permanently. In order to regain access to web authoring tools and other exclusive features for paying customers, you will need to subscribe in Mac App Store:
- $4 per month
- $40 per year
BareBones explains:
In free mode, BBEdit provides a modified set of features which incorporates a powerful set of core features. Using BBEdit in free mode costs you nothing while providing an upgrade path to advanced features and capabilities.
To enable advanced features after the evaluation period is over, you will need to have an active subscription. Subscriptions are available on either a monthly or annual basis.
An active subscription gives you access to all of BBEdit’s advanced features, including any new features that we introduce during updates or major upgrades, for as long as the subscription is in good standing.
If you previously purchased a license directly from the BBEedit website, you will start a new 30-day evaluation period when installing BBEdit 12 from Mac App Store.
For more information on subscriptions in Mac App Store and other things you may need to know, be sure to read BBEdit’s FAQ for Mac App Store customers.
BBEdit can be also downloaded direct from the developer’s website, with a perpetual license priced at $45 available from Bare Bones Software’s online store.
The Mac App Store version of BBEdit requires macOS Mojave 10.14.2 or later and explicit permission to access files and folders on your computer. The direct download version is compatible with macOS Sierra 10.12.6 or later.
To reiterate, all of the app’s features are available to all customers regardless of where they downloaded the app from and the type of license they’re using.