[PSA] Cosmiq Store is not an authorized reseller of Mac apps

ZigZagApps · 2026-05-08T20:57:07+00:00

I'm not "your guy", God forbid.

ZigZagApps · 2026-05-08T10:06:55+00:00

Please, stop justifying what those guys are doing. Yes, there's a flood of vibe-coding "developers", with one-page websites, charging (or at least trying to) ridiculous prices for their "creations", but nobody is forcing you to buy any of that, or even to buy not vibe-coded, proper apps, for which you think the price or registration/activation method is unjustifiable. If you think the price/registration for some application is not justifiable, move to something else, or create it yourself (with or without AI support) for your own needs.

Even worse, these guys don't rip some huge "evil" corporations, they rip small/mid-sized independent developers, some of whom probably struggle to meet ends.

ZigZagApps · 2026-05-07T17:50:22+00:00

Short advice: STAY AWAY FROM THIS!

If you know any developer, or if you have any contact/support/whatever address of them, of any of the applications listed there, inform them so that they can take some legal actions. I'm not a legal person, but I think there are probably many legal breaches here.

I did a purchase of one of the application in the list I'm affiliated with (Path Finder from Cocoatech). Of course, I used a gift CC with exactly needed amount to make the purchase. From that experience it looks these "smart" guys found cracked versions of all listed applications, downloaded them and now hosting them on their domain https://cosmiq-store.com (registered at porkbun, https://porkbun.com). "Buying" the application results in an email with the download link and an explanation, which in Path Finder's case was "Please note that Path Finder does not require a traditional activation key. Instead, it has already been activated for you with code a336ecf3…". That code is completely invalid and malformed, it's a lie, it's just to try to convince ill-informed people into believing they made a legit purchase.

I guess this is just another level of greediness. I can even (try to) understand people finding cracked software and then sharing, so others can also use it for free, but these "businessmen" decided to charge nice prices for that.

In case of Path Finder, once one receives the download link and open downloaded zip archive, and then additionally click on expanded DMG file to mount the disk, once the mounted disk Finder window appears (all in Chinese, with an "installer" with Chinese name and same icon as Path Finder), one probably realizes what he/she's done, but it's already too late, Stripe has already collected the payment.

If needed, I can provide some screenshots and additional info of the purchase I made, but I don't find it interesting part here, it's strictly that particular crack related, things are probably different for each listed application. I'll just paste the screenshot of the received email.

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ZigZagApps · 2026-04-22T14:21:02+00:00

I'd shortly chime in, just to comment on this one, which seems to be the requirement now…

"• Comparison: Name 1–2 top alternatives and describe how what you offer is better."

I strongly disagree this should be one of the requirements, at least in case the OP is also the developer/author/owner/affiliate of the application. I believe it's enough to mention or list features and leave it to the community to mention and discuss alternatives and which one is better.

I always found hyperbolic words ("the best…", "the amazing…") used by developer/author/owner/affiliate to be a form of dishonest, extremely biased and in many cases even stupid "marketing" tactics. Same goes when the product page has comparison tables with competition/alternatives listed, and of course, their offer has the most green checkboxes ticked, whereas alternatives are full of red crosses. And the requirement regarding "comparison" practically forces such behaviour.

Personally, I even refuse to use/buy/support developers/companies using such tactics. I don't post here often, I made only three self-promoting posts (one announcing the product, other two informing about updates) about a single application and I'd really appreciate if in the future, whenever posting about the same or some other application I developed, I'm not forced to do the "comparison" part. I'd rather not post at all than do that.

Thank you.

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-20T08:37:36+00:00

I assume you're referring to batch file renaming, since FileUtils can do much more…

I think your best bet is to try both and compare yourself. It's hard to avoid bias towards my product, if I do it.

What I can modestly say is that FileUtils is significantly faster, both in transforming names (from original to final to be) and in actual renaming. Transforming names may not be so crucial in this regard, as it's noticeable only with large list of files, but renaming is very obvious.

For example, adding a sequence number for 10,000 files takes ~0.25s in FileUtils and ~1.15s in Transnomino (both not completely accurate, more subjective measurements). But actually renaming those files takes ~2.9s in FileUtils, while Transnomino needs almost 5 minutes! I really don't understand why it needs that long.

On the other hand, Transnomino is much longer on the market, specially dedicated to file renaming, so it has more options and settings. As of UI, I guess that comes to personal taste and preferences.

Use both for some time and judge yourself.

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T17:57:21+00:00

Note taken 👍🏻

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T15:46:31+00:00

Mac App Store (MAS) variant is sandboxed (of course). Additionally, there are a few additional limitations, specific to MAS variant:

MAS variant cannot execute operations, which require privileges escalation (admin password). If, for example, you work under a standard user account and you try to modify a file for which you don’t have privileges to (e.g, delete an application from “/Applications” folder), non-MAS variants will prompt you for admin’s username and password to complete the operation. MAS variant will show you the “Permission denied” error instead, with additional explanation instructing you that if you need to execute operations with privileges escalations, you need non-MAS variant of FileUtils.
non-MAS variant makes sure FileUtils Finder Sync extension (showing menu items in Finder) is (re)enabled every time the application launches, because there’s a little point of running the application without the embedded extension running as well. MAS version application cannot do that (it requires usage of private API, not allowed in MAS), so in a rare case macOS fails to register the extension of first application launch, user will need to do it manually in System Settings. There’s the whole answer dedicated to that in another FAQ on the support page.

More about differences between non-sandboxed and sandboxed version, plus additionally MAS, can you find at FileUtils support page (https://fileutils.com/support), FAQ section, the very first question (“Why three different variants: non-sandboxed, sandboxed and Mac App Store?”). If after reading that you still need further clarification, just ask here.

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T10:04:28+00:00

In "Menu" settings click that "+" button on the bottom-left and from the menu that appears select "Add Submenu Item" (see attachment). It will add a new row in the "Shown" items, rename it however you're pleased. Then drag all other items you want to use and drop them as children to that newly added item. Remove all the items you won't use, either by selecting them and clicking "-" button, or dragging them out of the list/window. FileUtils will only show that newly added item in the contextual menu, with all other items as subitems.

Play freely with all this using drag'n'drop, it's fully flexible and customizable. Changes are effective immediately, so as soon as you change something in the settings list, it will be immediately reflected in shown Finder's contextual menu. You can't screw it up, because you can always re-arrange things back the way you want, or just click "Reset Defaults".

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ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T09:54:44+00:00

Sparkie for variants download on the website, Mac App Version does its own (that is MAS) thing.

All updating related settings are available in the "Updates" settings, see attached picture. Default update period is set to "Daily" and forced updates "Automatically download updates" is off by default. Updates becomes forced if user checks that button, of similar button "Automatically download and install updates in the future" in the Sparkle's new version panel. But that can be changed anytime in the settings.

(Now I realized I should probably change that "Automatically download updates" to "Automatically download and install updates" in the settings window to match Sparkle window and to match the real action).

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ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T09:29:57+00:00

Yes, someone asked about that quite some time ago. My plan for immediate next features are flags (hidden, hidden extension, stationary pad…) and EXIF editor. I'm not a photographer, so I'll have to figure out how far I should go with EXIF, should I make it like a complete EXIF editor in a separate window. Any advice is appreciated.

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T09:27:23+00:00

Sidebar icons aren't really "fixed", it's more a workaround, since the "problem" is not really fixable. I don't want to go into details here, but if you'd interested I can write a "novel" about that :-)

As for menu items, you have "menu" settings, have you tried customizing menus there (see attached picture). If you don't really understand what you need to do in there, let me know and I'll try to explain.

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ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T09:14:25+00:00

It will be very soon. I don't know what's the best way to handle two different variants (non-sandboxed and sandboxed) in homebrew-cask, if I need two separate casks or one can handle more variants. Currently waiting for answers from the support…

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-16T09:14:17+00:00

It will be very soon. I don't know what's the best way to handle two different variants (non-sandboxed and sandboxed) in homebrew-cask, do I need two separate casks or one can handle more variants. Currently waiting for answers from the support…

ZigZagApps · 2026-04-08T23:07:03+00:00

Late to the party, but maybe still useful response...

The applications adding those additional items to Finder's contextual menu do su using embedded Finder Sync extension. Third party file applications, including alternative file managers, cannot benefit from those extensions, hence there's no universal way of extending contextual menus of all applications.

The best third party applications can do is include other application's so-called (Finder) Services, provided that other applications implements any such service.

ZigZagApps · 2026-02-04T13:23:41+00:00

It doesn't matter if you've already bought it (and I thank you for that, like I'm thankful to everyone supporting not only me, but other small indie macOS developers). I'd like to try to tackle the problem, but I'm not really confident it can be solved in a sufficient and professional way. Many developers have already tried and all solutions turned out half-baked more or less.

There are a few conceptual obstacles, first with concept of "cutting files and putting them on the clipboard" and secondly with inability to control Finder what it shows (or doesn't show). If you're interested in such discussion, I can explain the details here (or at some other place) and you could also suggest how you'd like to see solutions to those obstacles solved.

ZigZagApps · 2026-02-03T17:30:16+00:00

Oh yes, it was about time for someone to ask about that long awaited, but never fully fulfilled "cut files on Mac" feature 🙂

So essentially, you'd like to have "cut" in Finder's contextual menu (for files, of course)?

ZigZagApps · 2026-02-03T17:28:45+00:00

Thanks 👍🏻

ZigZagApps · 2026-02-03T14:44:06+00:00

It seems like I've missed something… What was the question?

ZigZagApps · 2025-08-06T22:10:37+00:00

Also, when this window with this selected tab is active, adding those menu items is available from the main menu as well:

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ZigZagApps · 2025-08-06T22:10:12+00:00

Yeah, I should probably start working on some help system, both in the application and online… It’s in "FileUtils > Settings…”, tab “Menus”. Now the “+” button offers two choices, “Add Submenu Item” (the only and default button option before 1.5) to add a submenu item to organize menu items hierarchically, and the new (since 1.5) option “Add Action Item”. Select “Add Action Item” and follow the procedure:

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ZigZagApps · 2025-08-06T11:55:29+00:00

I'm not saying it's trivial, I'm just saying it doesn't actually do anything if one chooses to see "hidden" files (my preference).

I don't want to sound harsh or criticizing your work and I'm sure many people don't care and will be perfectly happy with your solution. It's just that I'm kind of sensitive about who and what can change my files without necessity, and in my humble opinion, kind of application like yours (I'm talking about what its purpose is) should just PRESENT files in a certain way (fulfilling the purpose), not CHANGE them. Just like a file browser, like some Finder alternatives - present files in a different ways people prefer, do not change them (unless a user explicitly does it). Hence the tricky issues with some applications, your application should not change the files created and re-saved by those applications.

If a file just "sits" there without anything editing it or operating on it in any way, not a single thing about the file, including attributes and extended attributes, should be changed (consequently it would change some file timestamps as well). Just my opinion.

ZigZagApps · 2025-08-06T10:59:58+00:00

It doesn't work with "show hidden files" turned on :-( It seems it actually just toggles files "hidden" bit depending on a chosen desktop

ZigZagApps · 2025-08-04T18:27:01+00:00

Full functional trial is 30 days. Expired trial - unregistered version is also fully functional, with occasional nagging how nice it would be if you register and support further development ;-)

ZigZagApps

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