iOS Apps on Mac...

[James Godfrey]

During the WWDC I noticed them talk about iPhone and iPad Apps running on the Apple Silicon Macs and will be available by default...

Does that mean the Silicon Macs are going to touch screen or is this unlikely?

 

[Big Bad D]

During the WWDC I noticed them talk about iPhone and iPad Apps running on the Apple Silicon Macs and will be available by default...

Does that mean the Silicon Macs are going to touch screen or is this unlikely?

No (well not in near future). The iOS app will “run” but with only normal Mac input means. So unless optimised will often be next to useless. It may be helpful for some apps and developers, but as the way of working and user interface is so different between iOS and MacOS devices it seems to me to be more of a gimmick.

 

[James Godfrey]

Ah I see, I can see your point on a gimmick initially...

let’s just hope that developers don’t just start scrapping their MacOS apps in favour of their iOS counterparts and just tweaking them to work a bit better with the Mac...

I don’t think the Mac should ever really become touch screen, as it will just remove the current space filled by the iPads...

 

[chabig]

Also, the preferred method for developers to bring those apps to Mac is through Catalyst, which takes care of the input problem by mapping iPad controls to Mac controls.

 

[Yebubbleman]

During the WWDC I noticed them talk about iPhone and iPad Apps running on the Apple Silicon Macs and will be available by default...

Does that mean the Silicon Macs are going to touch screen or is this unlikely?

No. Apple is going to give developers the option of allowing their iPadOS and iOS apps be available for download in the Mac App Store unmodified in Apple Silicon versions of macOS. Developers have to opt their apps into this for it to happen. Apple is, of course, urging that developers go the extra mile and create Catalyst apps so that both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs are supported and optimized for.

 

[thingstoponder]

I suspect that most apps I want to run will not be available from the developers, ie Netflix and Hulu. I’m guessing the real reason Apple is doing this is they want to nudge developers to making Catalyst versions of these apps. If users complain about the crappy apps then maybe developers will feel guilted into making it a Mac app.

No. Apple is going to give developers the option of allowing their iPadOS and iOS apps be available for download in the Mac App Store unmodified in Apple Silicon versions of macOS. Developers have to opt their apps into this for it to happen. Apple is, of course, urging that developers go the extra mile and create Catalyst apps so that both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs are supported and optimized for.

It’s actually an opt out system. All apps will work by default.

 

[ADGrant]

Also, the preferred method for developers to bring those apps to Mac is through Catalyst, which takes care of the input problem by mapping iPad controls to Mac controls.

I think running iOS apps on Apple Silicon is built on Catalyst, just without the x86 build. I suspect that the experience should be similar to what you would get if you clicked the Mac checkbox in Xcode and just ran the app on the Mac.

I also suspect that most developers will either build a Catalyst version of their app with any required tweaks or they will opt out.

 

[Harvey Zoltan]

Some tech commentators seem to be convinced that AS Macs will be getting touch screen support. It will be interesting to see how this goes but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if it happened.

 

[thingstoponder]

I think running iOS apps on Apple Silicon is built on Catalyst, just without the x86 build. I suspect that the experience should be similar to what you would get if you clicked the Mac checkbox in Xcode and just ran the app on the Mac.

I also suspect that most developers will either build a Catalyst version of their app with any required tweaks or they will opt out.

I’m don’t think it uses Catalyst at all. I think that would change the apps a bit and possible break many of them. The whole point is they will run unmodified. A developer on twitter has loaded straight iOS apps from iOS devices and they look exactly like Apple showed, with automatic menu bars added and all. Those apps certainly aren’t Catalyst apps like you’re describing. And if they did that then I’m not sure what reason they would have not making them available on Intel too.

Some tech commentators seem to be convinced that AS Macs will be getting touch screen support. It will be interesting to see how this goes but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if it happened.

They’re basing it off nothing. I think it’s very irresponsible how they’re running with it even there’s zero evidence and zero rumors that they will do it. A lot people might be expecting it and I’m almost certain they will be disappointed.