App Store

IAppStore looks up the latest published version of the running app in the store it ships through, deep-links into the store or review page, and requests the platform’s in-app review prompt. Each platform is implemented natively - no MAUI or Essentials - so it works in MAUI, native, Linux desktop and console apps alike.

GitHub
Downloads

Frameworks

.NET

.NET MAUI

Operating Systems

Android

iOS

macOS

Windows

Linux

Setup

dotnet add package Shiny.AppStore

using Shiny;

// everything but Windows is detected from the running app
builder.Services.AddAppStore();

// or with identifiers
builder.Services.AddAppStore(opts =>
{
    opts.AppleAppId = "1234567890";         // numeric App Store ID (needed for deep links before GetCurrent has run)
    opts.WindowsProductId = "9NBLGGH4NNS1"; // Microsoft Store Product ID (required on Windows)
    opts.LinuxAppId = "org.example.MyApp";  // AppStream / Flatpak ID when not running from a Flatpak or Snap
    opts.CountryCode = "us";
});

IAppStore needs Shiny’s IPlatform, which UseShiny() (MAUI) or the native hosting registers. A plain .NET host calls services.AddShinyCoreServices() itself.

Usage

using Shiny.AppStore;

public class UpdateChecker(IAppStore store)
{
    public async Task CheckForUpdates(CancellationToken ct = default)
    {
        var result = await store.GetCurrent(ct);
        if (result?.NeedsUpdate == true)
        {
            // result.StoreVersion, result.CurrentVersion, result.ReleaseNotes, etc.
            await store.OpenStore();
        }
    }

    public Task PromptForReview() => store.RequestReview();   // or OpenReviewPage()
}

AppStoreOptions

Option	Notes
AppleAppId	Numeric App Store ID. If not set, populated automatically after the first successful GetCurrent call (read from the iTunes lookup’s trackId)
AppleBundleId	Defaults to IPlatform.ApplicationIdentifier - the running bundle’s CFBundleIdentifier
AndroidPackageName	Defaults to IPlatform.ApplicationIdentifier - the running app’s package name (applicationId)
WindowsProductId	Required on Windows — distinct from the package family name; configure explicitly
LinuxAppId	AppStream component / Flatpak application ID. Defaults to IPlatform.ApplicationIdentifier (FLATPAK_ID / SNAP_NAME) when the app runs from a sandbox; set it explicitly otherwise
CountryCode	Two-letter region code for store lookups (default "us")

AppStoreResult

public record AppStoreResult(
    Version StoreVersion,
    Version CurrentVersion,
    bool NeedsUpdate,
    string StoreUrl,
    string? ReleaseNotes = null,
    DateTimeOffset? ReleasedAt = null,
    double? AverageRating = null,
    long? RatingCount = null,
    string? MinimumOsVersion = null
);

CurrentVersion is IPlatform.AppVersion - the bundle short version on Apple, the package version name on Android, the package version on Windows.

Platform	Lookup	Fields populated	In-app review
iOS / Mac Catalyst	iTunes Search API	All fields including ratings, release date, release notes, minimum OS	StoreKit AppStore.RequestReview (16+), SKStoreReviewController below
macOS (AppKit)	iTunes Search API scoped to entity=macSoftware	Same as iOS. Deep links use the macappstore:// scheme	AppStore.RequestReview against the key window (macOS 14+)
Android	Google Play HTML scrape	Version + NeedsUpdate. Ratings/notes/dates aren’t reliably exposed in the page HTML	Play in-app review flow
Windows	Microsoft Store DisplayCatalog	Version, release notes (from ProductDescription), and ReleasedAt where available	StoreContext.RequestRateAndReviewAppAsync
Linux	flatpak remote-info against the installed origin, or snap info for the tracked channel	Version, NeedsUpdate, store URL, ReleasedAt, and the Flatpak commit subject as ReleaseNotes	Opens the software centre page - Linux has no in-app prompt
Other plain .NET	Not supported	Returns null; the open/review calls return false	—

Linux

The Linux store covers the two packaging formats that publish an updatable version to a store. Anything else — a tarball, a distro package, dotnet run — has no store to ask, and GetCurrent() returns null.

Format	Installed version	Published version
Flatpak	flatpak info <id>	flatpak remote-info <origin> <id>, against the remote the app was installed from
Snap	snap list <name>	snap info <name>, reading the channel the install tracks

OpenStore() and OpenReviewPage() both hand appstream://<LinuxAppId> to xdg-open, which GNOME Software, Plasma Discover and the Snap Store all handle — software centres show reviews on the app’s own page, so there’s no separate review destination. RequestReview() falls back to OpenReviewPage(); no Linux software centre offers an in-app prompt.

Inside a Flatpak sandbox the flatpak CLI lives on the host, so commands are forwarded with flatpak-spawn --host. Every command failure is treated as “can’t tell” and surfaces as null or false rather than an exception.

Note

AppStoreOptions.LinuxAppId falls back to IPlatform.ApplicationIdentifier (FLATPAK_ID or SNAP_NAME) when the app runs from a sandbox. Set it explicitly for anything else — a developer build outside a sandbox has nothing to detect.

Caution

Android version detection works by parsing the Play Store HTML. Google changes the page structure periodically — keep an eye out for GetCurrent returning null on Android and report it on the GitHub repo if it stops matching.