Finally, after a lot work over the past two ish months, I am happy to announce the release of the non-App store variant of FunPlayer.
The main site https://funplayer.app downloads page now has two options.
What is right for you?
-
App Store:
- Auto updates via App Store
- Includes Safari extension
-
Non-App Store:
- Manually download new releases
- Does not include Safari extension.
What if I bought Pro on the App Store and want to switch to the non-App Store version?
That’s completely fine. There is no need to purchase a license. Send an email or discord message and we will send a license key over. This works either way. We will provide the other side, if you buy Pro license but want to switch to Apple as well we will provide an App Store redeem code.
Feel free to use either the App Store or non-App Store at any time, it is up to you.
Maybe in the future this will be a self-serve portal but at this stage it is easier to handle these on a case-by-case basis.
Some not-so-important commentary from me if you are interested in reading:
It took more work than expected to distribute a non App Store variant because reality has a surprising amount of detail 
Had to tackle a couple key challenges such as license key management, a merchant to allow for buying a license for those who want Pro, setting up the email sending after purchase for a license, getting the website downloads to support both App Store and this non-App store path and a downloads API, etc.
Alas, it is all just about done now.
An important aspect is that the app is signed with our Apple Developer ID certificate and notarized so upon opening the app Gatekeeper will check and pass so you can rest assured that the app was signed by our developer company ID with Apple and hasn’t been changed.
It is unfortunate that at this stage, the non-app store I wasn’t able to bundle the Safari extension because the bundle ID between the App Store app and non App Store is different, the safari extension bundle ID matches the App Store bundle ID but I haven’t invested time at this stage to figure how to get it to match the non App Store bundle ID cleanly.
Tagging @roa for non App Store release.