Pips
Pips are MacPip's points. You earn them by taking part: voting, writing, reviewing. They set your level, and you can spend them on looks and on a labeled seat for your own app.
- Earn by taking part
+5 a vote, +10 a comment, +15 a review, +2 a visit. Up to 120 pips a day, or 30 on your first day. Every amount
- Level up
Lifetime pips set your level, and spending never lowers it. See the levels
- Never bought, never a vote
Pips can't be bought, and they never change votes, rank or winners.
- Claim a Side Spot seat
500 wallet pips put your own live app in the home page's "Picked with Pips" stack for 7 days. Your account needs to be 14 days old, with 3 separate days of taking part. Seat rules
- The $100 race
The first account to earn 2,000 pips between Nov 11, 2026 and Dec 10, 2026 (UTC) wins one month of Claude Max, worth $100. Take part on at least 10 different days, and follow @macpiphq on X. Race rules
What pips never do
- Pips never change votes, rank, a day's winner, or where an app shows in a list.
- Pips can't be bought. Premium, Featured and Side Spots give none.
- Your own app earns you nothing when you vote for it. Your vote still counts the same.
How to earn
| Action | Pips | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Visit while signed in | +2 | Once a day |
| Vote on a launch | +5 | First 6 votes a day, once per app |
| Vote 3 days in a row | +15 | Each 3-day run. On top of the daily cap |
| Vote 7 days in a row | +40 | Once a week. On top of the daily cap |
| Write a comment of 20 or more real characters | +10 | 3 a day |
| Rate and review a Mac app | +15 | 2 a day, one review per app |
| Your first review | +50 | Once. On top of the daily cap |
| Someone marks your comment Helpful | +5 | 5 a day |
| Fill in your maker profile | +30 | Once. On top of the daily cap |
| An app you submitted goes live | +50 | Once per app. On top of the daily cap |
120 pips a day from repeatable actions, or 30 on an account's first day. Streaks and one-time pips come on top. A comment that is removed takes its pips with it, and a vote taken back takes back its pips. Votes made while signed out still count the same, they just earn no pips.
A comment earns pips only with 20 or more real characters: letters and numbers, with links and praise like "great app" left out. Shorter comments still post, they just earn nothing.
If 3 of your comments are removed as spam within 30 days, your account is muted: it earns no pips while that lasts, and its comment, review and Helpful pips from those days are taken back.
Levels
Lifetime pips set your level, and spending never lowers it. Each level asks a little more than the last.
Side Spot seats, picked with pips
4 of the 8 Side Spot seats on the home page are picked with pips, under their own "Picked with Pips" label. The other 4 are paid and labeled Sponsored.
- A seat is 500 wallet pips for 7 days, Monday to Sunday.
- One claim per account a week, for next week, and only for a live app you own.
- More than 4 claims: a draw on Sunday picks 4, and everyone else gets their pips back. No first-come rush.
- The same app can't hold a seat two weeks in a row.
- Accounts need to be 14 days old, with 3 separate days of taking part.
- The MacPip desk can pull a seat.
The Claude Max giveaway
The first account to earn 2,000 pips between Nov 11, 2026 and Dec 10, 2026 (UTC) wins one month of Claude Max, worth $100. New accounts can take part and win.
- Only pips earned in those days count, less any taken back. Pips set by the MacPip desk do not count, and spending pips never lowers your count.
- The daily limits are the same for every account, new or old, so nobody can get there in less than about two weeks.
- To win, you need to take part on at least 10 different days in that time: votes, comments or Helpful marks.
- Before we send the prize, we check the winner's pips by hand. We can disqualify any account that farms pips, for example with more than one account, comments that say nothing, or Helpful marks traded between friends.
- The first account to reach 2,000 wins. We log the exact time each account reaches it.
- If pips are taken back and an account drops below 2,000, its time no longer counts. If it climbs back over 2,000, the new time counts, not the old one.
- If two accounts reach 2,000 in the same second, the one that took part on more days wins. If that is equal too, the older account wins.
- Pips can not be bought, and they never change votes, rank or winners.
- Follow @macpiphq on X. We check this by hand before we send the prize.
- The race ends when we confirm a winner. We send the prize within 7 days of confirming them.