I have been using App Wrapper 2 for a while now and I’m ready to move to either AW3 or piDog’s new AppPrep 2.
I hope to try both out soon but my time is very limited right now so I would welcome friendly opinions from anyone who has tried both. Both products are from people I have a lot of respect for. Price of both is negligible, I’m really only interested in technical differences. Thanks!
Appwrapper is part of the Omegabundle (in case you are interested in it)
I’m in the process to use one of them, I’ve never send an app to apple so
I also would like a fair comparison pro ans cons of both .
like Gavin, the price is not a problem, a technical point on vue would be really appreciated.
thanks.
[quote=153999:@Gavin Smith]I have been using App Wrapper 2 for a while now and I’m ready to move to either AW3 or piDog’s new AppPrep 2.
I hope to try both out soon but my time is very limited right now so I would welcome friendly opinions from anyone who has tried both. Both products are from people I have a lot of respect for. Price of both is negligible, I’m really only interested in technical differences. Thanks![/quote]
I love Jim, but AppPrep 2 just appeared, whereas App Wrapper 3 has been here for longer, and it uses the same profiles as APW2.x. I have APW3 and love being able to use it just as I ever used 2.5 without having to start over. If my time was limited, I would tend to go for what has worked for me until now.
Now it would be nice indeed to have a comparison from people who tried both, if only to know one’s options.
If you’re a user of App Wrapper 2 there are some changes in AW3 that might affect you. The new process no longer works from a post build script like it did in AW2 so it greatly affected my workflow since after it was wrapped I called DMG Canvas to create the image file.
AW3 now creates a XojoScript for you that you can put in build steps. In the current version it assumes the app to wrap is in the builds folder which for us wasn’t the case since we sometimes have eSellerate and Sparkle libraries to in our non-Mac App Store apps.
I’ve worked with Sam to come up with workarounds for us. The first is that you an specify the location of the app to wrap now and you can also execute a bash script after it’s complete. Sam has been very helpful in getting AW3 working with our build process.
I can’t speak for AppPrep since I’ve not used it. For me the post build script would be the critical piece of functionally I can’t live without.
I’ve tried four times to make a screen recording, but due to issues each time the recording was lost. Part of the idea of a screen video was to show the process of trying out AppPrep for the first time as a totally new user.
I’ve come to the slightly biased conclusion that AppWrapper 3 is the better solution.
During my trial process I became overwhelmed and confused with the number of entry fields AppPrep had to offer. There were so many data entry points with so little explanation of what each one did and what it was for. While having more entry fields opens AppPrep up to being more customizable, they are features one would hardly use on a regular basis.
Comparing Sandboxing techniques is one of the best ways to see this. AppPrep just lists all of the sandboxing entitlements from Apple in their reverse dns format without telling you what they do. If you look at AppWrapper’s sandboxing view it walks you through what you might need, and lets you select the extent in a plain and user friendly way.
Next let’s take a look at the UTI procedure. AppWrapper loads the file types up from what little Xojo does actually put in the plist, and guides you through setting your UTI and file types. AppPrep lists what it finds (twice for some reason?) and you’re expected to know what to do with them and how to set it up.
I absolutely hate the changing color bullshit on the icons view in AppPrep. It’s slow on my computer, and is such a waste of power.
AppWrapper has some cool new features in version 3, like adding a Help Book is easy. You can drop an indexed help book, or drop help you built with Answers in and AW3 will index it for you. AW3 will also check for retina assets, and alert you of missing ones.
I’m sure there’s many other points on which to compare the two apps, but in the last two hours of trying I felt like AppWrapper 3 was more user friendly and easy to use. Also, in my attempts to code sign, AppPrep 2 was never successful.
I use Appwrapper 3 and never got any issues with it. Its very well build, easy to use and offers anything you need to get your app on the Appstore.
It may seem to have a steep pricing but it is worth every single cent !
BTW I never tried AppPrep2 - so I cannot really compare.
Never used AppPrep 2, so can’t comment there, however can add a plus one for App Wrapper 3. Never had an issue with any App Wrapper version and Sam has always been speedy with advice and help. Definitely worth every penny.
Appreciate the informative opinions, thanks. I’ll probably go to AW3 for now but I’ll be keeping an eye on AP2.