{"id":29337,"date":"2020-06-23T16:53:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T20:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=29337"},"modified":"2022-08-09T11:22:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T15:22:06","slug":"ios-apps-on-macos-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/23\/ios-apps-on-macos-11\/","title":{"rendered":"iOS Apps on macOS 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

And for the first time, developers can make their iOS and iPadOS apps available on the Mac without any modifications.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The apps will be available in the Mac App Store by default, except where developers opt out. There will be lot<\/em> more apps, but most of them won’t be quality Mac<\/em> apps.<\/p>\n\n

Peter Ammon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The shocking part is not the fact, but that Apple chose to pre-announce it today, in such a low key way. Why do that?<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The feature might absolutely suck in practice. Android apps on ChromeOS are...not great. But by showing their hand, Apple is committed to this feature. Why?<\/p>\n

The reason would be to get someone to do something different. They want users or developers to react, today.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

It’s definitely not a media coverage play. If they wanted to build excitement, why slip it in quietly towards the end?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Oluseyi Sonaiya<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

If my iOS app will run on macOS unmodified… with careful UI\/UX design, why would I build a macOS app at all?<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

A degraded Mac app, that doesn’t consider all of the unique requirements\/opportunities the Mac presents. Not great for building thoughtful desktop-specific experiences, I would argue.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

This almost seems designed to sunset macOS in a few more years[…]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Gus Mueller<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

What’s going to happen when the Mac is flooded with iOS apps? Are prices for apps on the Mac going to plummet like they did on iOS? Will I still be able to make it as an indie in five years?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Alexis Gallagher<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

So can you imagine what the user experience would be like if you just ran an iOS app on a Mac, just because you could? It would be HORRIBLE. Developers don’t even need to imagine it because we can already do this with the Simulator, and it’s not a good experience.…<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The way this all makes sense is if the new Macs have not only Apple Silicon (which lets them run iOS apps) but also touch screens (which makes it reasonable to do so).<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

It’s easy to imagine a lot of ways this could work technically. But what would be a good UX? I don’t know.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

It’s hard to see how this doesn’t end up compromising and ending up with a “toaster fridge,” just like Apple accused Microsoft of doing.<\/p>\n\n

Steve Troughton-Smith<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Really interesting way of looking at it: the universal Apple ecosystem — built around the iOS SDK — is the future of the Mac, and Catalyst on Intel was a way of extending that support to existing Macs and letting them stay relevant for a few more years<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n