The Store

What it is

The App Store is where you get apps for WolOS. It shows apps picked for you in five shelves (Discover, Create, Work, Play and Develop), a search field that finds any app by name or by what it does, Kits that add a whole set of things in one step, Plugins that add to the desktop itself, and Updates. Its icon in the Dock is the shopping bag.

Why WolOS does it this way

The same app often exists in several places, packed in different ways, each with its own idea of an update. You should not have to know that. So the Store shows one entry per app, and its page says where it comes from and which version you get. Every app on the shelves was picked by people, and every install can be taken back: update it, keep a version that works for you, or roll back to the one before.

How

Find an app

1. Open the App Store from the Dock, or choose App Store… in the WolOS menu.
2. Browse (2): Discover has the essentials and a featured app at the top; Create has drawing, photo, video and music apps; Work has office, mail and notes; Play has games; Develop has the tools for programming.
3. Or search (1): click the search field at the top of the sidebar and type a name ("Firefox") or what you want to do ("photo").

Get an app

1. Click Get next to an app (3 or 4 on Discover, 2 in search results), or click the app to see its page first.
2. Type your password if it asks. Most apps are installed for every account on the computer, which needs an administratorAn account allowed to change things that affect everyone on the computer. The account you make while installing is one.'s password. The password counts for five minutes, so a second app right after does not ask again.
3. Watch the ring. A ring next to the app fills as it downloads and installs; the button reads Installing…. When it is done the button reads Open, and the app is in Search and in Launchpad.

An app's page

Click an app's name or icon to open its page.

1. Get (1), Open once it is installed, or Update when a newer version is ready.
2. Information (2) says how big the app is, who made it and where it comes from: System packages (WolOS's own collection, checked against its signature) or another collection that the page names. Installed for says whether it is for all accounts or only yours.
3. What It Can Do lists what the app may use, such as the camera or your files, when it says.
4. The back arrow (3) returns to the shelf you came from.

When the app is installed, its page also offers:

Keep your apps up to date

Click Updates in the sidebar (1) and then Check (2): "See what is new for your apps." The Store lists every app with a newer version, each with Update. Updates of WolOS itself are in System Settings > Software Update; see Updates.

Kits: a set in one click

A KitA set of packages for one job that the Store installs in one step, such as Media Codecs. adds several things you need for one job at once. Click Kits in the sidebar (1). Media Codecs plays and makes MP3, AAC, H.264, HEVC and AC3 files and adds common fonts; click Get (2), and the list (3) says what each part is for. "Nothing here is installed until you choose it." Once added, the button reads Added. See Music and video formats.

Bigger sets of tools, for programming, creative work, games and AI, are modules in System Settings > Modules; see Modules.

Plugins

Plugins in the sidebar lists pluginsA small add-on for the desktop: a menu bar item, a widget, a search result or a theme. It runs in a sandbox.: small additions to the desktop itself, such as a weather item in the menu bar, a timer in Control Center or a clock widget. Each says what it does and what it asks for, with Get, Turn On, Update or Remove. Every plugin on this page was checked and signed. See Plugins.

Apps from a file

A friend may send you an app as a single file. Double-click it: the Store opens its install sheet and says whether WolOS can check it:

Community packages

The Community tab at the bottom of the sidebar holds community packagesA package anyone can publish, outside the reviewed repositories. Nobody at WolOS reviews it; WolOS checks it against named rules before it installs.: recipes anyone can publish. Nobody at WolOS reviews them, so they are kept apart: they never appear in Discover or in search, and the tab opens only after your password ("Community packages are not reviewed by WolOS. Enter your password to open them."). Each package shows what WolOS's check found before you decide. Most people never need this tab.

A worked example

Alice wants to edit her holiday photos. She opens the App Store, types "photo" in the search field and sees GIMP and darktable. She clicks GIMP to read its page: 155 MB, from System packages. She clicks Get, types her password, and watches the ring fill; the button changes to Open. A month later an update makes a filter she uses look different, so she opens GIMP's page and clicks Roll Back, then Keep This Version so it stays that way until she is ready.

If something goes wrong