Report: Apple making progress on universal iOS, macOS


Bloomberg:

Later this year, Apple plans to let developers port their iPad apps to Mac computers via a new software development kit that the company will release as early as June at its annual developer conference. Developers will still need to submit separate versions of the app to Apple’s iOS and Mac App Stores, but the new kit will mean they don’t have to write the underlying software code twice, said the people familiar with the plan.

In 2020, Apple plans to expand the kit so iPhone applications can be converted into Mac apps in the same way. Apple engineers have found this challenging because iPhone screens are so much smaller than Mac computer displays.

Apple announced its working on a unified path for developers to create iOS and macOS apps last year.

This seems a great opportunity for developers creating apps for Apple's two major platforms. It will be interesting though to see how the user experience translates. macOS has been picking up iOS elements, such as full-screen mode and the iOS closer to the Mac with improved multiple application support and gestures, Fundamentally, however, iOS is a touch experience while macOS is a keyboard and cursor experience.