Seriously starting to become a joke, where are the M1 Mac iOS, iPadOS apps.

[gank41]

Yes for VM's but not for Bootcamp. But the same goes for Microsoft. So far all I've seen from Microsoft are Apple trashing TV ads in order to sell people off Macs and on to Surface Pros. That coupled with the fact that they still haven't licensed WoA to run on M1 VM's is a very good chance they are making a "Business Decision" not to support Macs, and they have every right to make such a decision.

True, but a lot of times those types of decisions are for a specific amount of time. Like, they’ll keep pushing their Surface hardware for a bit, sales will be subpar, and Msft’s engineers will have plenty of time to play around with the M1 hardware. If Parallels will be offering official support (once out of beta/tech preview) for Win10 on ARM, that kinda means to the general public that “Win10 works on the M1 Macs”. As evidenced in the comments from the OP’s post, people clearly don’t understand process. Whether it’s a company of one person making a semi-popular iOS app, or if you’re Microsoft, porting your software to new hardware isn’t always easy.

Things will get better.

 

[bluecoast]

I’m just an end-user but...

It strikes me that it would be good for Apple to press the pause button on adding any major new (non-hardware specific) features this year on macOS, iPadOS & iOS.

And then make it as easy as possible for devs to write catalyst apps - as well as ironing out any bugs/stability issues that prevents this.

I’d say the only user facing features we should have should be a consequence of the above ie:

‘We used catalyst to bring the health & fitness apps from iPhone to iPadOS and macOS. Oh and the weather app. And yes - calculator!’ Etc.

And ok, let’s also allow Apple to course correct any UI fails ie Notification Center on the Mac and the slightly confusing springboard setup on iOS 14 (try explaining how to add widgets to your parents sometime).

Great thread.

 

[shapesinaframe]

Probably about 1-2 years away to be honest. It took ages for iPad apps to be more than just scaled up iPhone apps.

 

[gank41]

Probably about 1-2 years away to be honest. It took ages for iPad apps to be more than just scaled up iPhone apps.

I'd think sooner than that. The latest macOS 11.3 betas have enabled resizing the window of iPad apps, regardless of whether an app dev makes that happen via code. I know with Catalina, developer documentation was vague at best. Documentation did get better with Big Sur, but could be more informative or explanatory. It could take months for a developer to get answers from a problem they might have after contacting Apple's Support or perusing thru forums like us. I think we'll see even more improvement in this area come WWDC2021 and the upcoming beta releases of macOS 12. Seems like the steps taken in 10.5 and now 11 are paving the way to what we've probably imagined or expected.

 

[shapesinaframe]

I'd think sooner than that. The latest macOS 11.3 betas have enabled resizing the window of iPad apps, regardless of whether an app dev makes that happen via code. I know with Catalina, developer documentation was vague at best. Documentation did get better with Big Sur, but could be more informative or explanatory. It could take months for a developer to get answers from a problem they might have after contacting Apple's Support or perusing thru forums like us. I think we'll see even more improvement in this area come WWDC2021 and the upcoming beta releases of macOS 12. Seems like the steps taken in 10.5 and now 11 are paving the way to what we've probably imagined or expected.

The OS might support it soon but developer support tends to lag, quite significantly in most cases.

There’s no such thing as a simple update in software products.

 

[2ilent8cho]

I get the Op's frustration, I use a few iOS apps on my M1 MacBook, but I had to use the work around as they are not on the Mac App Store, the developer opted out, but I'm more than happy with the way they work on the Mac.

 

[gank41]

The OS might support it soon but developer support tends to lag, quite significantly in most cases.

There’s no such thing as a simple update in software products.

But you missed the part where a "simple update" (that being macOS 11.3) will allow iPad apps to resize your app window or even go full screen. All without the developer contributing to the app in any way. That update should be out in a month or so, sometime in March. Sooo, yeah. There is such a thing.

 

[gank41]

I get the Op's frustration, I use a few iOS apps on my M1 MacBook, but I had to use the work around as they are not on the Mac App Store, the developer opted out, but I'm more than happy with the way they work on the Mac.

IMO this is the attitude we all should take regarding any iOS/iPadOS apps that we've side loaded due to the developer not including their apps on the Mac App Store. Now if they DO offer the app on the Mac, and there's issues, leave a review and let the developer know what's happening instead of the standard "UGH it doesn't work!" stuff that floods app reviews.

 

[Zazoh]

Apple should not have marketed this as a feature. Other than to say, we are allowing developers to have their apps available on the M1 ... "and, We can't wait to see what they do with it."

To promote as iOS apps on M1, was disingenuous. Having said that, I don't care, I have iOS devices for those apps.

 

[dmccloud]

Apple should not have marketed this as a feature. Other than to say, we are allowing developers to have their apps available on the M1 ... "and, We can't wait to see what they do with it."

To promote as iOS apps on M1, was disingenuous. Having said that, I don't care, I have iOS devices for those apps.

All Apple promised was the ability to run iOS/iPad OS apps on the Mac. They never said all iOS/iPad OS apps could (or would) be available. There's nothing disingenuous about that, especially given that the developers have to approve their apps being available on Mac OS.

 

[gank41]

Apple should not have marketed this as a feature. Other than to say, we are allowing developers to have their apps available on the M1 ... "and, We can't wait to see what they do with it."

To promote as iOS apps on M1, was disingenuous. Having said that, I don't care, I have iOS devices for those apps.

To be fair here, Apple marketed this feature to App Developers, and told them they’ll be able to enable this on their end. No one promised that all apps would be there on day 1 and that they’d be working if you found a way to side step the process.

 

[thenewperson]

Probably about 1-2 years away to be honest. It took ages for iPad apps to be more than just scaled up iPhone apps.

I feel like iPads started that way and mostly devolved into scaled up iPhone apps.

 

[Starfia]

I'm so glad it's up to the developer whether to release an iOS or iPadOS app on a completely different platform with only a fraction of the design and hardware considerations and features with only six months' notice. That should definitely not be mandatory.

 

[Zazoh]

All Apple promised was the ability to run iOS/iPad OS apps on the Mac. They never said all iOS/iPad OS apps could (or would) be available. There's nothing disingenuous about that, especially given that the developers have to approve their apps being available on Mac OS.

Other way around, they have to dis-approve.

Running your iOS apps in macOS | Apple Developer Documentation

Modernize the iOS apps you choose to run on a Mac with Apple silicon, or opt out of running on a Mac altogether.

developer.apple.com

 

[Zazoh]

To be fair here, Apple marketed this feature to App Developers, and told them they’ll be able to enable this on their end. No one promised that all apps would be there on day 1 and that they’d be working if you found a way to side step the process.

Nope, other way around.

 

[Acidsplat]

But considering Rosetta 1’s life cycle lasted what, close to 10 years? I’m pretty confident Rosetta 2 will be with us for some time.

Speaking as someone with an M1 MacBook Air, Apple today seems to yank things from users very quickly. They'll probably block it from running at all in a couple M-series generations.

 

[Rafterman]

Speaking as someone with an M1 MacBook Air, Apple today seems to yank things from users very quickly. They'll probably block it from running at all in a couple M-series generations.

I doubt they will yank it. One of the goals of Apple with their pwn processors was unifying desktop, iPad and iPhone into one. But there will be growing pains for a while.

 

[spiderman0616]

This is a brand new in-house chip architecture that just came out a few months ago to rave reviews and very few significant issues or road blocks (for most people). It's a miracle I can use these things as my main workhorse machine right out of the gate. To be complaining about the iOS compatibility at this early stage in the game seems a little short sighted.

And it's not like Apple spent a huge amount of time on running iOS apps on Mac. They listed/highlighted a few, said it was up to the developer whether or not it made sense to have their app on the Mac app store, and basically left it at that. They did mention the capability at both WWDC and at the Mac online event, but they didn't beat it into the ground. It's an option. I'm sure they know it's sub-par at the moment. I'm sure developers realize that too.

M1 users need to treat the iOS compatibility as nice to have in some situations, not the sole reason for buying the Mac. For the most part, the Mac will have an online or Mac compatible option that is much more suitable on the platform anyway.

 

[Tech198]

Can only hope so. ?

...and allot of non-universal apps die out. No one develops the same thing forever.

 

[Lemon Olive]

I understand that, but apple has made it so easy for them to convert their apps for the M1 macs, I’m 100% sure that even if they had a free app on iOS and made it available on the Mac App Store for a small fee I can guarantee you millions of people would still purchase their apps.

Love my M1 Mac, amazing battery life, very quick machine, big selling point for me was that I’d be able to enjoy iOS, iPadOS apps on my mac, the way it’s going most of the developers don’t seem interested in making that happen.

Was looking forward to upgrading to the 16” model this year but the way things are going I most likely won’t be anymore.

Ease of doing it is only part of it, which is why you're seeing such a slow roll out.

- Just because the silicon is now compatible doesn't mean an iOS App has any business being used on a non-touch device. Even Apple's own iOS apps that are ported to Mac (like Home) are terrible on the Mac because the UI is intended for touch.

- In may cases, business logic will preclude developers from just adding another platform into the mix.

 

[richinaus]

I am unsure why people are angry or frustrated that not all apps are universal / M1 native etc yet.
It was totally predictable based on the last transition.

On Macrumors I have seen countless people say the M1‘s are far better than my 16” MBP however I know for a fact several essential apps I use wont even run on the M’s as yet, and known to crash. Some developers have been transparent, others not.

The reality is, as others have said, that it is not just a matter of flicking a switch, and also I fully appreciate the complexity of the apps I use. So will be patient, and use my current machine until the M’s are usable for my business.

But I do get bored of the people stating blindly that all is well and what’s the problem.

 

[MBAir2010]

If anyone is listening, there is a drawing app that is great on the ipad, and would be incredible on the macbook M1, even air. I would purchase a macbook M1 when this happens.

 

[Rafterman]

It will take a while, but the promise of Mx is exciting. I have Red Shift Premium astronomy app, and pre-universal, its initial launch time took ten seconds and subsequent launches took 5 seconds under Rosetta 2. After they updated it to universal this week, it fires up in less than 2 seconds, almost instantaneous.

I look forward to apps like Adobe Creative Suite being updated.

 

[Rafterman]

Ease of doing it is only part of it, which is why you're seeing such a slow roll out.

- Just because the silicon is now compatible doesn't mean an iOS App has any business being used on a non-touch device. Even Apple's own iOS apps that are ported to Mac (like Home) are terrible on the Mac because the UI is intended for touch.

- In may cases, business logic will preclude developers from just adding another platform into the mix.

You can "touch" with a mouse just as easily as you can touch with your finger. The whole "it wasn't designed for a Mac" argument is just not true, in many cases. Not all iOS apps running on Macs make sense, but a majority will.

 

[alien3dx]

You can "touch" with a mouse just as easily as you can touch with your finger. The whole "it wasn't designed for a Mac" argument is just not true, in many cases. Not all iOS apps running on Macs make sense, but a majority will.

seem easy but my latest app will try in swift ui 2.0 and macos arm. crazy experiment here but not as easy as seem