License key

Just to set expectations here, this request only makes sense for Developer ID apps. Apps distributed via the Mac App Store are not allowed to use their own licence keys.

Licence keys are a form of DRM, and there are all sorts of complications implementing a DRM scheme (for some general background on this, see this post). Given that DTS doesn’t support DRM, I don’t have any practical experience to share here. Perhaps others will chime in.

My only concrete advice is that you carefully weigh the costs of developing your licence key system against the costs of piracy. I’ve seen a lot of developers go down the DRM rabbit hole, spending way more time and money on DRM development than is justified by their market circumstances.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

Hello "Quinn The Eskimo",

Thank you very much for your advice. My App will only be distributed via the Mac App Store. It seems a license key is not necessary.

By the way: I am pleased to get your advice again. In the early days of the development of my App (incredible: 6 years ago) you gave me an invaluable advice how to save data files on disk (Follow-up: 252372228). This was a milestone in the deveopment of my App. Without it I couldn't go on. Saving data users generate is absolutely essential for my App. Now my App is ready to be submitted and uploaded to the App Store. I very much hope it will be accepted.

Best Regards

Gerhard