Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

[Digitalguy]

Running MacOS virtualized (or just letting users run any OS virtualized) would give users the best of both world. A touch first tablet. And a keyboard/trackpad OS when needed, regardless of whether touch is there or not for that (just like Sidecar has only basic touch gestures / pencil support only). No added cost, no added weight.
In theory there is no inconvenience, then why Apple is not only not doing that officialy but actively fighting against it (they removed hypervisor in iPadOS 16 and refuse full UTM to be on the store)?

For 2 reasons:
1. MONEY. iOS store 30% cut, on which they are fighting legal battles...and maybe it would push some MacBoor air & iPad users to move to iPad only (we could say this is just business or greed, depending on how you look at it).
2. INCENTIVE. If you can run full desktops OSs, this could remove incentives to developers to port software to the iPad... It's actually hard to argue against this...

Disclaimer: I run full Windows 11 virtualized on a 16GB M1 iPad pro thanks to sideloading of full UTM and taking advantage of hypervor (by leaving the iPad on iPadOS 15.3)

 

[JohannesO]

Blame the hockey puck mouse.😏

The only good thing I can say about that mouse was it helped with learning the Tiger Claw kung fu.😁

I knew that someone would mention the mouse 😂 it was more the complexity of the system like Finder as basis, pop-up dialogues and what not.

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

They’d lose App Store revenue.

No they wouldn't? The App Store on macOS is actually growing in popularity, but also killing off iPadOS in favour of macOS would also kill all of the apps engineered and built specifically for the iPad and, in turn, iPadOS.

 

[unique-macrumors-user]

iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why.

In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like features strike a good balance between productivity and simplicity. He added that macOS is not optimized for touch-screens, although rumors suggest that might change one day.

"We want to retain all the simplicity of the iPad, but still allow iPad users who want to go deeper and further to push it at their own pace to doing more," said Federighi, in a sit-down interview at Apple Park's podcast studio. "I think with macOS, you'd lose what makes iPad iPad, which is the ultimate touch device. But there are lots of things the two platforms can learn from one another, and that's where we've adapted our best ideas to each."

The quote above is only a portion of Federighi's answer, with the full interview available below.

For those who are still looking for a true iPad and Mac hybrid, Apple is reportedly working on everything from touch-screen Macs to a 19-inch foldable iPad, so the dream of using macOS on a touch-screen might be just a few years away.

Article Link: Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

I bought an iPad mini and it’s useless for text editing or making presentations compared to any Mac with a decent file system and Alfred automations.

As long as the iPad doesn’t get a proper macOS, it will remain useless. As macOS resembles more and more the other devices, it becomes less powerful

 

[cupcakes2000]

Running MacOS virtualized (or just letting users run any OS virtualized) would give users the best of both world.

that would indeed be a great solution. Also a revamped sidecar type thing, letting you access your remote Mac jump desktop style, but built in.

 

[cupcakes2000]

As long as the iPad doesn’t get a proper macOS, it will remain useless. As macOS resembles more and more the other devices, it becomes less powerful

You forgot to add *for you. It’s nowhere near ‘useless’.

 

[eveluvsrainbows]

I bought an iPad mini and it’s useless for text editing or making presentations compared to any Mac with a decent file system and Alfred automations.

As long as the iPad doesn’t get a proper macOS, it will remain useless. As macOS resembles more and more the other devices, it becomes less powerful

It is nowhere near useless. And it literally supports Keynote like macOS does. And as for text editing, it has Word and Pages. Additionally, not all Mac users use Alfred; its likely that most Mac users don't.

What you are referring to is a personal situation where you find a Mac to be better, and the iPad to be worse for your needs. But applying the useless remark so broadly is acting like something is true for everyone even though it isn't.

 

[mlayer]

Windows still doesn’t have it right. Windows 8 was far FAR better for touch than 10/11 is now. I have a hard time using touch with 10/11 so I just never do.

This. Windows touch support regressed from 8 to 10 to 11. It's a shame, because I'm posting from a Windows 11 machine right now and I have zero interest in its touchscreen. I don't even accidentally touch it because it's so bad.

 

[montuori]

As macOS resembles more and more the other devices, it becomes less powerful

In what way specifically has MacOS become less powerful? I mean, the UI has changed over the years (for better or worse depending on your preferences) but I'm having a hard time thinking of functionality I've had in the past that's no longer available.

 

[lotones]

I see his point. Give your average 4 year an iPad and they'll have it figured out in minutes. Even the most tech phobic elders can get around on an iPad. Why alienate those users just to make iPad the same as a Mac? Maybe give the MacBook Air a touchscreen and a fold-back keyboard for those who insist on macOS on iPad.

That said, I'll never forget watching my friend's toddler who couldn't talk yet and barely walk, wobble over to his mom's iMac and click the mouse to restart his YouTube cartoon. So maybe macOS isn't as complicated as they think.

 

[breenmask]

You mean like hovering over these so they expand in size so you can click on them with a pointing device, as in iPadOS 26?

View attachment 2519757View attachment 2519758

Thanks for agreeing with me that iPadOS 26 is a stupid update with unnecessary features as it only exists to cater towards the loud minority who are obviously wrong.

I installed the update and it takes me several taps to figure out how to move a chrome-less window. Makes absolutely no sense.

 

[bhffs]

They really wouldn’t. There are still plenty of apps that are iOS only. What the iPad truly needs now is a proper Finder and support for full desktop class apps. If anything, adding these features would likely boost sales, people could start using the iPad as their all-in-one device, which would, in turn, open up the App Store to a wider user base.

Sure, maybe they get more iPad sales. But they likely also lose Macbook sales in that scenario.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That said, I'll never forget watching my friend's toddler who couldn't talk yet and barely walk, wobble over to his mom's iMac and click the mouse to restart his YouTube cartoon. So maybe macOS isn't as complicated as they think.

Yup ...
It turns out folks are more adaptable than we often give them credit for.

My 87 year old uncle still deftly navigates around Windows to play some games and buy things on various websites.

 

[breenmask]

Yeah, and a lot of us just doesn't want to travel two ****ing device...

Or you can just travel with a MacBook and don't buy an iPad. This isn't difficult to do.

 

[escargot3]

They could have released the features like iPadOS 26 ages ago. It is not an argument to provide such an able chip and make it just an oversized iPhone. They are now opening up as competitors are launching highly capable pads. Myself, I use an average iPad, while my friend has Samsung. To be honest, that machine had everything the average user would need in the box. Apple likes to make users purchase the ability to do the same that Samsung provides for free of cost.

Except apps optimized for tablets…

 

[TheOldChevy]

We need the Terminal app on the iPad.

 

[lotones]

It's been the Tim Cook dream for about a decade now.

The reason the Mac had that languishing in the mid 2010's was because Tim was hoping to do it back then.

He's not a Mac guy. He never has been.

dude, that "languishing" had everything to do with Apple waiting for Intel to get their act together, which never happened. And if TC wasn't a "Mac guy", why would he spend a decade and a few billion to develop the most powerful and efficient desktop chips on the planet?

People seem to have very selective short term, um... whatchamacallits. 🤔

 

[Ecuadorexpat]

One thing no computer company will never do is create a phone that can be docked to a keyboard and monitor, using the phone screen as the trackpad. Additional power, memory, graphics could be supplied by the dock. Storage could be in the dock or in the cloud.

You could also insert the phone into the back of an iPad, with additional battery in the iPad body. Again, storage in the iPad or in the cloud. From there, it is only a small step to dock your phone into the car with whatever functionality one cares to pay for.

And each student/employee could be issued their own phone, and have a dock at home as well. The cost of a dock could be in the $200 range or below. Easy to keep work/home data separate.

Back up the device to the cloud after each use, and if the phone is lost, replacement would take minutes.

Ubuntu attempted to do this, and the whole world came down on them. The losses in revenue to the computer industry would be in the hundreds of billions.

But the first company that does this intelligently will be the next Apple. Adoption of this in both India and China would guarantee its success. Education in second and third world countries crave an economical solution like this.

I currently have 3 Mac’s, 4 iPads, two watches, an apple TV, and two iPhones in my home for two people. I spend at least a thousand a year keeping Apple equipment up to date/current. And I only buy used/refurbed.

 

[turbineseaplane]

why would he spend a decade and a few billion to develop the most powerful and efficient desktop chips on the planet?

ASi started way before the time period I'm talking about.

The A4 chip powered the iPhone 4, which released in 2010

It actually released before you joined MacRumors!
Yes ... that long ago!

 

[breenmask]

I've always wanted to dual boot iPadOS and macOS!!!! How great would that be? I mean...You can be inside iPadOS and be like "oh CRAP I left that file in my macOS app that doesn't have an iPadOS variant! Let me reboot my iPad, login to macOS using accessibility tools because I don't have my keyboard/mouse at the moment, launch the Mac app, copy it to my iPadOS partition somehow with my fingers because again I don't have my mouse, reboot to iPadOS, then launch the app, open the file!! so easy, right? RIGHT?"

roll my ****ing eyes. stop ruining the iPad with these stupid requests.

 

[filchermcurr]

One thing I never see mentioned when people talk about the 'iPad is the future Mac' assumption: heat. A lot of the things people use proper computers for generate a lot of heat due to sustained heavy workloads. Yes, even with ARM chips. That's why, for instance, Macbook Pros and all of the desktop machines have fans. Unless they cram a fan into an iPad, I don't see any way it could replace a proper traditional computer for anybody doing any kind of intensive work.

 

[turbineseaplane]

One thing I never see mentioned when people talk about the 'iPad is the future Mac' assumption: heat. A lot of the things people use proper computers for generate a lot of heat due to sustained heavy workloads. Yes, even with ARM chips. That's why, for instance, Macbook Pros and all of the desktop machines have fans. Unless they cram a fan into an iPad, I don't see any way it could replace a proper traditional computer for anybody doing any kind of intensive work.

I think we're just going for MacBook Air levels of intensity.

Those are fanless.

 

[Runaway Train]

Since picking up the M4 iPad last year, my MacBook is collecting dust (mostly). For heavy lifting I have a a MacMini M4 paired with a Studio Display. Simple. The iPad doesn’t need to run Mac OS - I have that on the Mini. If one needs Mac OS and portability - buy a MacBook. Simple. Don’t see what all the fuss is about, honestly.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Since picking up the M4 iPad last year, my MacBook is collecting dust (mostly). For heavy lifting I have a a MacMini M4 paired with a Studio Display. Simple. The iPad doesn’t need to run Mac OS - I have that on the Mini. If one needs Mac OS and portability - buy a MacBook. Simple. Don’t see what all the fuss is about, honestly.

Simple.
The "fuss" is that you're exact preferences aren't everyone else's.

That should be obvious.

 

[svish]

Happy to see the changes to iPad this year. Waiting to see what kind of new device/foldable Apple will bring and the software it will run. Expecting to see interesting new products in the next 2 years.