what does the red circle with #1 mean on an specific app?

This are the notifications that you have enabled for those games. Maybe another gamer is trying to contact you or something like that. I know very little about those types of games, but I'm quite sure it is a notification of some type relating to that game.

Yep, it's a notification that it is your turn, you have a message or something has occurred and needs your attention.

I just had the same question and found that it means the number of updates available for your apps. When you sign in to your app account you will see up at the top a bar, there will be a tab for updates which will tell you how many updates are available. Once you update the little red number will go away. Hope this helps!

Each application can have a different meaning for this number. On the app store icon it is the number of updates available. On a messenger app it can be the number of new messages. I have a third party calendar app that displays the day of the month. This is part of the notifications system and is called a badge. Badges can be turned off on a per app basis from the settings app. If you open the app and poke around, you should be able to find a reason for the badge. Turn based games will usually use this to indicate how many games it is your turn to move in, but could also be used to indicate chat messages if the game supports this.

You are misinformed. If the red circle with a number appears on a specific app icon - it means there is some sort of notification for that app - as Johnathan Burger stated - something that needs your attention.

If the red circle with a number on it appears on the App Store App icon- that indicates the number of updates available for your apps.

Read the OP's post again. The apps were up to date but specific apps had the red circle with a number on them. In the OP's case - it was 2 games that had notifications.

His apps are up to date. The prevous poster was correct. It's a notification specific to those apps.

So if a number in a red circle on the App Store application icon is indicating an update being available, why doesn't running the Mac OS Software Update show the update?

The App Store icon is not one I'm inclined to keep on display in my Dock [OS X 10.6.8].

I'm not sure how your question relates to apps and games on the iPad. This is the Using iPad forum. I have never downloaded an app in the Mac App Store. The information that I provided is in reference to games and apps using the iPad, but I assume that the Mac App Store works the same way.

Bearing in mind that I have never downloaded from the App Store on the Mac, as I can best remember, only Apple applications and software updates would show up via Software Update. For instance, prior to the Mac App Store in Snow Leopard, any updates that were or are available in any third party applications on the Mac would have their own updaters and will not be available via Software Update. Microsoft Office for example had it's own Microsoft Updater application and those updates never came via Software Update. Software update does not work for third party apps.

Apparently, if you purchase for the Mac App Store, updates are indicated like they are on the iPad with the red number in the circle on the App Store icon in the dock.

^ Sorry if it's the 'wrong' forum but it's the thread which this Apple Discussions site suggested when I typed in my original question and this thread does have the answer to my question 🙂

Yes, I realise that Software Update will only deliver updates for Apple products.

I can confirm that updates on Mac App Store purchases are indeed indicated by a white number on a red disc on the icon in the Dock. In my case it wasn't Aperture as I originally thought but Lion 7.1 which I have downloaded but won't install yet.

Had the same red circle with the number 1 on my calender icon on my desktop. Couldn't figure it out until reading these statements and it turns out someone was trying to get me to accept Ray Band sunglasses for 19.95. The language was both English and I believe Cantonese. The reason I say that language is it looks like the same language as the person who hacked my account at the apple App Store. I wasn't hacked, my account was at apple and it was pure ?$&@ and 4 months before I was able to make purchases without having to call apple and complain as they kept declining my request to make purchases. I told them if only they had been that diligent when my account was being hacked. I was the one that discovered the issue and that took 5 hours just to grant me access back into my account. The red circle was associated with the date that it was. When I clicked on the circle on the date is when that message came up. Good luck.

Yep. It was notifying you that you had a calendar invite in your inbox. If there were 2 then the number would be a 2, etc. In this particular case, it was a spam invite that has been going around lately. People who use the calendar app to manage meeting schedules see these number dots all the time if that form of notification is turned on for that app.