Has the Ghost Native App for desktop disappeared?

[RyanUK]

I installed the Ghost OSX App on my home computer. I remember downloading it from the Ghost site. However, I can’t see to find a link to download it again. Do you have the link? Or have they removed the OSX desktop app?

So, that there is no confusion, I am not talking about the iOS app as I know that does not exist. Thank you.

[Kevin]

Yes, the Ghost Desktop app has been removed and is no longer available.

It was a community-lead project that was no longer maintained leading to it’s dependencies becoming increasingly out of date and starting to pose compatibility problems and security risks. The app was not much more than a Chrome-based wrapper around the web-based admin interface, there are ways to replicate that behaviour without needing a custom desktop app…

Native App for Ubuntu not Working

The desktop app is a community project that has not been updated by the project maintainer for a while so there may be some package-related issues on some platforms. However, it’s only an electron app that wraps the admin that lives on https://yoursite.com/ghost/. Unless you have multiple Ghost sites and want the sidebar in the desktop app for easy switching you’re not missing anything by using the web admin. If you want the same “desktop” experience of clicking an icon to open a single-site ap…

[RyanUK]

Thanks Kevin. I know it was Chrome wrap around, but I still like it a lot. Anyway, I found an old copy on my computer I’ll use it from time to time. I am also purchasing Ulysses.

I don’t know if you work directly for Ghost. FYI, here is just some feedback. I really like the concept of Ghost. I want it to be successful. I realise it is already successful in many ways. I feel native apps is extremely important and there are many people out there who also feel the same. So, it would be good if the Ghost org would invest in native apps. Some people will be willing to pay even if it charged a reasonable fee, although in an ideal situation it would be free.

I am trying to use Ghost alongside Wordpress. Ghost and Wordpress are my two favourite platforms. I hope Ghost continues to grow. Thanks.

[RyanUK]

Hi Kevin, I found a copy of Ghost app on one of my computers and I am using it. Out of interest, I am not putting my site and login details at risk by using this app, am I?

Thank you.

[Kevin]

@RyanUK

Out of interest, I am not putting my site and login details at risk by using this app, am I?

The app’s dependencies were very out of date and not actively audited for security issues. Looking at electron for example there are numerous reported vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities in the underlying framework doesn’t necessarily mean they are exploitable via the Ghost desktop app but the potential is there.

It’s generally never advisable to use unmaintained native apps, especially when those apps work with external content created by 3rd parties (multi-author sites, or external embeds for example). As with any native app it has higher privileges and data access to your local machine than a web app so more care should be taken.