Different app versions reported by App Store page & pkg download

[giovariot]

Configuration

mas ▁▁▁▁ 5.2.0
slice ▁▁ arm64
slices ▁ arm64
dist ▁▁▁ homebrew/core/mas
origin ▁ https://github.com/mas-cli/mas.git
rev ▁▁▁▁ e84c0658e1dfff2fd1eaf0fc8ef338a2a99b8f67
swift ▁▁ 6.2.3 (swiftlang-6.2.3.3.21 clang-1700.6.3.2)
driver ▁ 1.127.14.1
store ▁▁ IT
region ▁ IT
macos ▁▁ 26.3 (25D125)
mac ▁▁▁▁ Mac16,12
cpu ▁▁▁▁ Apple M4
arch ▁▁▁ arm64

Bug description

American Heart Association eReader is showing version 1.3.0 in macOS App Store, unfortunately I'm only able to install version 1.2.4 either through App Store and through mas, I don't know if this is a mas problem or an App Store side problem.

Steps to reproduce

• Install AHA eReader for Mac
• run mas upgrade

Here is the output:

➜  ~ mas upgrade
Password:
==> Downloading AHA eReader (1.2.4)
==> Downloaded AHA eReader (1.2.4)
==> Updating AHA eReader (1.2.4)
==> Updated AHA eReader (1.2.4) in /Applications/AHA eReader.app

[rgoldberg]

@giovariot Please provide an ADAM ID (fka app ID) for the app in question.

You can get it from the first column of the output of mas list.

Thanks.

[giovariot]

Hello. Here is the ADAM ID
1522892881 AHA eReader (1.2.4)

[rgoldberg]

Thanks for the ADAM ID. That app isn't available in the US App Store, which is the only App Store from which I can download.

The iTunes Search web API returns the JSON for that ADAM ID for IT, but not for US.

Can you give me the results of running:

mas update --accurate 1522892881

(It should output nothing, but I want to ensure that is the case)

If it does output nothing, then you can use that instead of mas update 1522892881. The version without the flag is inaccurate (comparing the iTunes Search web API version which can be out of sync with App Store servers), but it remains the default because the accurate version has its own issues (slower, might call the App Store too much if you have many App Store apps installed, so might lead to rejected or hanging requests).

mas just supplies an ADAM ID to the StoreFoundation/CommerceKit Apple private frameworks to download & install/update an app. mas cannot specify the version of the app that it wants. The Apple function is supposed to download the newest version that will run on your Mac.

I have seen differences between data from the iTunes Search web API & from the App Store private frameworks, though normally they resolve within a few days.

The weird thing is that the latest version of this app (1.3.1) was released on 2025-11-20, which is over 3 months ago, not around 3 days ago. Also, the IT App Store web page says the newest is 1.3.1, but the iTunes Search web API says 1.3, while StoreFoundation/CommerceKit are stuck on 1.2.4 for your Mac.

Something seems very wrong with the Apple servers, or the config of this particular app in the App Store.

One potential way around this is to try to use ADAM ID 1439086329 (AHA eBook Reader 8.0.0, available from both US & IT) instead of 1522892881 (AHA eReader 1.2.4/1.3, available only from IT, which is what you're using).

Both are from the same developer/seller (American Heart Association), but the former is specifically for macOS, whereas the latter seems to be for iOS/iPadOS, but adapted to also work on macOS.

Hopefully, the other ADAM ID will suit your needs better.

Otherwise, I don't know what, if anything, can be done by mas to resolve or mitigate this, other than you using --accurate for update (which is an alias for upgrade) & outdated commands.

[giovariot]

mas update --accurate 1522892881 output is empty as you said.

Unfortunately I can't use AHA eBook Reader as it is not compatible with the different ebook libraries. Thanks a lot for the very accurate explanation. I'll try to report this to apple themselves (even if I really don't know how I should contact them)

[rgoldberg]

Thanks for the info.

Just to double check, does the button in App Store page for AHA eReader say Open, Update, or something else?

What version does the App Store page say is current? And what is the version from the AHA eReader menu when it's running?

Thanks for any more info.

[giovariot]

The button in App Store page says Open.

The current version shown in App Store is 1.3 (from 5 months ago).
When I check in the AHA eReader menu the installed version is 1.2.4 (30).

Do you have any suggestions about contacting apple support about this?

[rgoldberg]

I would just search for how to report App Store problems to Apple.

Can you try moving your installation of the app to an external drive, disconnecting the external drive, installing the app again directly from the App Store, checking the version number from the app's menu, reattaching the external drive, and recursively diffing the 2 app folders?

If you don't have an external drive, you can just move the existing version into your Trash, and diff the trashed copy with your new installation.

I want to see if mas somehow messed anything up.

Thanks again for all the help.

If there is any way that mas can be improved to prevent this, all this testing will help us find it.

[rgoldberg]

@giovariot Any luck reporting the problem to Apple? Any luck trying the stuff from my previous comment? Thanks for any help.

[rgoldberg]

@giovariot I will release a new version of mas soon. Have you had a chance to try installing AHA eReader from scratch, as per #1205 (comment)?

That might help diagnose & fix this issue.

Thanks.