Are Setapp apps safe?

Setapp works with proven and honorable developers who create apps of exceptional quality and value. We have 240+ apps in the stack and are steadily adding more of them to cover all of your main needs. You can find the full list of Setapp apps at setapp.com/apps.

However, our main goal is to supply users with high-quality software. A huge quantity of apps is not a priority. That’s why, if developers want an app to join Setapp, they submit it to our special "Review Team." Then, we run a number of tests and check the app against our quality, functionality, safety, and privacy guidelines.

According to "Setapp Review Guidelines," our team filters out all apps that contain or assume:

• Paid features and app components;
• Built-in stores and in-app purchases;
• Advertising, promotional, or direct marketing functionality;
• Incorrect diagnostic or other inaccurate device data;
• Improper or wrong information about the app itself;
• References or commentary about a religious, cultural, or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence;
• Pornographic material or user-generated content that is frequently pornographic.

The Setapp team also doesn’t consider apps that

• download other standalone apps;
• keep running processes or run automatically without your consent;
• clearly mimic other well-known apps;
• transmit data about a user without obtaining permission and informing on how and where the data will be used;
• solicit, promote, or encourage criminal or clearly reckless behavior;
• enable illegal file sharing;
• are designed for use as illegal gambling aids;
• enable anonymous or prank phone calls or SMS/MMS messaging;
• surreptitiously attempt to discover user passwords or other private data;
• send notifications without first obtaining user consent;
• send sensitive personal or confidential information using notifications.

All apps on Setapp are tested properly and work as advertised (we do not allow distribution of "beta," "demo," "trial," or "test" app versions).

Note:  

The rules and standards listed above are just a brief extract from "Setapp Review Guidelines" that are provided here for information purposes of Setapp members.

So, if the app matches all Setapp guidelines, we approve it and make it available to you without limitations. Moreover, every new version of every app also goes through the review process. In other words, all updates you receive via Setapp are thoroughly verified too. As you see, we carefully hand-pick apps before they join Setapp and keep an eye on them when they are already approved. Thus, you can sweep all safety concerns aside.