There was a time in the 1990s when AppleScript was a part of my life (and AppleGuide!). Is Apple still really maintaining it (or updating it) and, does anyone still use it?
The list still exist, but only a message here and there.
AppleScript is still in Sequoia.
That is all I can say (except we forget when we do not use for a long time).
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Iâm using a lot of AppleScript for Mail and (old) Outlook. Not so sure if AppleScript is still maintained.
I saw some evidence of use over on Reddit FWIW. At least Apple is still including it.
I thought maybe theyâd stopped maintaining it. For a while there in the 90s it seemed so integral to âthe future that never wasâ with scriptable apps.
It was really important as I recall when Apple had AppleGuide. I ended up getting a half a day intro to AppleGuide from an Apple consultant sent from Apple to support a project I was working on with HP at the time.
AppleScript is still very important. For example, Adobe Creative Suite is fully scriptable. It allows you to create entire documents using scripts.
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The word âfullyâ is open to interpretation. 
The CS apps LOOK scriptable when you check out their AppleScript dictionaries, but the reality is that the implementations often leave a lot to be desired. Functionality is often incomplete or buggy, and the documentation is badly neglected. Worse, it seems like they laid off the people who were in charge of caretaking the AppleScript terminology for their apps, because recent updates have included very non-standard uses of the AppleScript grammar, which makes scripts hard to write and troubleshoot.
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AppleGuide died an unnoticed death, buried in an unmarked grave next to OS 9.
AppleScript, despite Appleâs almost pathological neglect, is very much alive and kicking. You just donât hear much about it because it is a very mature system at the age of 32 â the real power of AppleScript is that which other apps give it, since it does very little on its own, and having reached this level of maturity it doesnât receive many updates because they just arenât needed. It quietly does its work (and yours) in the background, trundling along through the decades.
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Is Apple still really maintaining [AppleScript] (or updating it)
Yes, AppleScript is still maintained. It can be found on macOS in the path Applications -> Utilities -> Script Editor.
Hereâs what it looks like on macOS 15.3.2 (Sequoia).
See the following screenshot of the Finderâs Get Info for the ScriptEditor.
The Apple Automator application uses AppleScript.
But Script Debugger by LateNight Software is being retired in June 2025.
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That means only AppleScript is still here.
What we do not know is if it is in maintance mode or actively developed.
And in both cses, this technology can be stopped any time. This is a >30 years old technology.
I think it is in the same boat like VBA in Office: its no longer actively developed, but will not be removed, since so many people use it.
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I believe there was a time during the early development years of OS X when Apple was considering dropping ApplesScript from the feature list. They quickly heard from their most profitable customers - the creative professionals buying high-end hardware - that AppleScript was a key differentiating feature between the Mac and Windows. AppleScript made the cut and is with us still today.
The reality is this: the ability to write scripts that integrate the functionality of multiple programs is a very desirable feature in a computer operating system. Even if you dislike AppleScript for some reason (and there are plenty of valid ones), the technology underlying AppleScript (Apple Events) was specifically designed to language-neutral. You can call it from Xojo code, for example, or build your own automation language to replace AppleScript.
Apple Events are a very well-thought out system that has stood the test of time. A replacement system would very likely reproduce the key features of Apple Events: data types; coercion of data between types; a standard message mechanism to communication with applications.
So the question becomes: if you want to replace Apple Events, what do you replace it with? Changes to this system would require widespread work by developers to convert their Apple Event handling code. The advantages of the new system would have be pretty big to get developers to abandon a long-established, functional system.
Offhand, if I were to propose changes to the Apple Event system, I would redesign the API to be more object oriented. The current API is somewhat jumbly and it can be difficult to figure out what functionality one might use to accomplish a task (this is also due to poor documentation). This wouldnât necessarily affect how applications process Apple Events as long as the existing calls are left intact - you could have a second set of calls, using a more modern API design, that would be the way going forward. However, the underlying data structures would remain the same, preserving backward compatibility.
More importantly, a better security model. The design of the Apple Events Manager dates back to the late 80s (!) when Macs were single-user systems and security was not on the agenda. The security model Apple bolted on to AppleScript and Apple Events is ham-fisted and not granular in the slightest. It needs to be more like the security model used in iOSâs Photos app, where you can have very fine-grained control over what photos an app can access.
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