Apple Reportedly Plan to Combine Apps for iPhone, iPad & Mac

Apple allegedly plans to raise a possibility of giving its users a way to use a single set of apps that work equally well across its iOS and macOS devices. If that’s true, developers will be able to expand their iOS apps to Mac computer, and meanwhile, Mac, iPad and iPhone users will get new features and updates at the same time.

Here is how Bloomberg says in the report: “Starting as early as next year, software developers will be able to design a single application that works with a touchscreen or mouse and trackpad depending on whether it’s running on the iPhone and iPad operating system or on Mac hardware, according to people familiar with the matter.”

The source added that Apple is developing the project as part of the next major updates for iOS and macOS. If it goes well, the secret project might be announced at the company’s annual developers conference in the next summer. However, the plan is still unstable, so the implementation could change or the project may be canceled.

Apple’s spokesman declined to make comment on the Bloomberg report.

Currently, Apple developers have to code two different apps for iOS and macOS operating systems if they want their apps to run on iPhones, iPads and Macs. On the other hand, Mac users have been complaining that there is a limited selection of apps in Mac App Store, and that many of them rarely receive updates for a long time.

Unifying the apps on iOS and macOS will help both platforms evolve as one, but that may be “the biggest challenge to Apple’s software platform since iOS was introduced,” says Steven Troughton-Smith, an app developer in the Apple community.

Will Apple blend iOS and macOS to create a single operating system for all its gadgets? The answer is mostly negative. Tim Cook believed that would degrade users experience, and in fact, there is no a necessity to do so, at least at this moment.