iOS and macOS Integration: Will They Merge at WWDC 2021?

[OneMoreThing2...]

Over the years, many have speculated over the possibility of Apple merging their two popular platforms: iOS and macOS. Microsoft offers touch-compatible Surface devices, and Apple added mouse support to iOS. Apple also delivered the ability for the Mac to run iPad apps on Big Sur. So why not just merge the two into one operating system and achieve the ultimate in iOS and macOS integration?

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[chscag]

I don't see that happening. It's been rumored for several years that Apple was going to merge iOS with macOS and the rumor has emerged again since the release of the new silicon Macs.

 

[Rod]

This may or not be on topic but I downloaded a game (Hidden Object game) onto my old 2010 MacBook from the App Store a couple of weeks ago and the iOS version of the game was downloaded onto my iPhone and iPad. I am sure this has never happened before so, is this part of the same deal?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Apps in the App Store can either be specific to macOS and/or iOS or support both. So if an app supports both and you have the sync setting set to mirror apps between devices, then yes you will get the macOS version on your Mac and iOS version on your iPhone.

In this case, however, they are different versions of the application with the macOS version built for x86 (and M1 perhaps) and the iOS version built for ARM.

With the M1 based Macs, there is no need to specifically compile the app for the Mac since the ARM version will work.

However, the underlying framework Cocoa is catered to the keyboard/mouse experience on the Mac and touchscreen/gestures/accelerometer on iDevices. So the merge (if it happens) is really allow apps to best leverage the capabilities of the platform to do their best work.

 

[Rod]

Thank you, great explanation. Although I assumed they were distinctly different versions, especially as the Mac Book is old I wondered if this was a policy change but it's probably just the sync settings. Back in 2010 the option was not available.