Can this really be intentional?

Related post here: Mac Catalyst Discovery Issue

Same issue here.

I researched some more ... For specific high-volume queries such as “Chess”, Mac App Store search defaults to the iPhone/iPad result set rather than Mac Apps. This makes dedicated Mac/Catalyst apps invisible unless the user manually changes the selector.

But then it jumps to Mac apps for other keywords:

It appears to depend upon the keyword, which makes things even less intuitive. I contacted Apple support but no reply yet. Really need to know if this is now intentional behaviour.

Just to clarify, the issue I am reporting is that when a user searches in the Mac App Store, the default visible result set appears to show iPhone/iPad apps designed for Mac, while actual Mac apps are only shown after selecting the separate “Mac Apps” option. This is a different issue from normal ranking. A user searching inside the Mac App Store would reasonably expect Mac apps to be shown by default. If the search view defaults to “iPhone & iPad Apps”, then Mac apps are effectively hidden behind an extra selection step, regardless of their normal search ranking. Please can you confirm specifically: Is it expected behaviour for the Mac App Store search to default to “iPhone & iPad Apps” rather than “Mac Apps” for some searches? If yes, how is a developer with a dedicated Mac/Catalyst app expected to compete in Mac App Store search if their app is hidden behind the “Mac Apps” selector? Can Apple remove only the macOS/Catalyst platform from my app record while keeping the iPhone/iPad app live, so that the iPad version can appear as “Designed for iPad” on Mac instead?

"Chess"

I have the same issue.

Those obviously fake 5 star reviews can get you in to serious trouble with Apple. Be sure to report them vcia "report a fraud" in AppStoreConnect. What kind of institution downloads 50,000 apps? I would block "institutional" purchase if I could.

I got told that my app "Sudoku" was spam even though it was one of the very first Sudoku apps, not just on iPhone but anywhere in the World. It pre-dated the Apple App Store by several years. My version invented things like picture Sudoku etc that are nowadays in every Sudoku app. There's definitely something strange going on these days with the review process. After lots of complaining and sending proofs that it pre-dated the store it was finally let through.

A few hundred just came through. Hopefully back to normal.

100s of reviews just came through :)

Still no ratings or reviews.

Thank you, I will contact them.