Apple Plans to Let Developers Release Universal Apps That Work Across iPhone, iPad, and Mac by 2021, SDK Coming This June

[Sasparilla]

As Gruber (a proud Apple fan and programmer) over on Daring Fireball said a couple of days ago of the example Marzipan apps in Mojave:

"and the new “Marzipan” apps — Home, News, Stocks, Voice Memos — range from “not great and a little weird” (Home) to “downright terrible” (the other three)."

Hopefully this will crash and burn in the market just like the universal windows apps marketplace did. Different platforms with totally different UI needs, need targeted applications for a good user experience (as Apple's example Marzipan apps in Mojave have shown....this aint it). This is the kind of "investment" I'd have expected from Apple before Job's came back (i.e. under CEO Gil Amelio) cause it sounds good to execs who don't know much about programming (instant fix for iPad App numbers and Mac App store, but not really).

I want my iPad apps to be more customized from iPhone apps, not my Mac Apps made like iPhone Apps. Its a shame Apple is wasting the time and effort on this when they could be investing those resources for other things. JMHO...

This is a day late & a dollar short, why does it take this long for Apple to deliver on this?!

Dude, don't complain, this gives you ugly mediocre apps that sorta work across the different platforms (phone, tablet, desktop) with completely different UI needs...its not a good thing. Guessing few successful apps will be using it across platforms, but we'll see.

 

[Khedron]

RIP macOS

 

[ksec]

Every single Multi Platform development attempt in the history of Computing has failed in terms of quality. Having said that I am giving a chance for Apple to prove themselves, one reason being if Apple don't do this, we might end up with lots of Apps built on Electrons, i.e HTML CSS and JS, and every single one of them are slow and bloated.

There are lot of things Apple are shooting for the moon in Software Development. Swift, trying to be a System Programming Languages, App Programming Languages AND a Scripting Languages. It is not doing trade offs, it tires to get the best of ALL worlds. This is similar in Marzipan, and some LLVM usage.

It would be nice if they pull it off, I would be less surprise if it was under Steve, not entirely sure the current Apple could do it.

 

[macguru212]

Fine. Just as long as Mac OS remains separate and the iOS apps are just an extra.

Once the line is crossed into the iOSification of Mac OS I am out of here.

 

[tkukoc]

Well the best part won't be so much the cross platform applications as it will be the redesign of the volume control notification in IOS 13. Oops..

 

[cmaier]

The end of the Mac as a platform for good UI then.

The Marzipan apps included with Mojave are flat out terrible.

Apple's arguments against a touchscreen Mac look pretty thin in light of this.

Yes they are terrible. But they have time to make it work. They will have to make every iOS control have an appropriate mouse based or trackpad based analog. The interesting part will be how much just works, and how much requires multiple storyboards in Xcode.

 

[Mackinjosh]

Cool, only about 8 years later than it should have happened. Way to be innovative, Apple!

 

[deyerseve69]

In the long run do you think this will cost some companies to shed jobs if they don’t need separate programmers?

 

[cmaier]

In the long run do you think this will cost some companies to shed jobs if they don’t need separate programmers?

There aren’t exactly a ton of mac-only programmers. Most mac programmers have already dipped their toe into the world of iOS coding.

 

[leman]

What's wrong with Voice Memos for example? I never used it but I just had a look and it seems like a normal app. I wouldn't call it any worse than Notes or Contacts or Reminders...

 

[Fixey]

I’ve been doing this for ages, write the code once and compile for macOS or iOS

Good that Apple making a SDK towards this should make cross platform easer in years to come

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

The end of the Mac as a platform for good UI then.

Good UI is a responsibility of developers, not Apple.

 

[satchmo]

Perhaps not so much with their implementation, but theoretically, was Microsoft right all along?

 

[az431]

Good but why not just create 1 store to serve all apps?

Because not all apps work on all devices, and most never will.
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This is a day late & a dollar short, why does it take this long for Apple to deliver on this?!

For the same reason man hasn't visited Mars yet.
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In the long run do you think this will cost some companies to shed jobs if they don’t need separate programmers?

No. There's no such thing as a "Mac only" programmer. There are developers who know Swift and Objective-C, which are both used for iOS and MacOS apps.
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RIP macOS

Did I miss the part of the article where it says iOS replacing MacOS? The ability to use the same app across both doesn’t suggest a merger or replacement of either.
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Cool, only about 8 years later than it should have happened. Way to be innovative, Apple!

Did we miss a deadline that was established sometime back?
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Those apps will be huge.

Ummm no. The fact that an app works on multiple devices does not necessarily mean it is larger in size.
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Good UI is a responsibility of developers, not Apple.

Developers can only do so much within the APIs and development tools that Apple provides. AutoLayout is a nightmare, and creating layouts for all the different size classes is even worse.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

Developers can only do so much within the APIs and development tools that Apple provides. AutoLayout is a nightmare, and creating layouts for all the different size classes is even worse.

I’m starting to think you are not a developer. AutoLayout is super easy with Interface Builder in Xcode (it does 90% of the work for you) and the size classes make screen size differences a trivial matter to handle well.

Where developers fail on both macOS and iOS is using the tools well. There are many graphics and interface APIs that are never used at all despite Apple’s efforts to promote them at WWDC.

This is one reason why many people can base their entire careers on UX / UI. It’s a very different set of skills that is distinct from just building apps.

 

[peglegjack]

I wonder if this could ever be extended to tvOS to where developers could release games on the Apple TV without having to write any extra code.

Perhaps it's too late for all that, but think of the possibilities if no effort was required on that end. It would at the very least become a convenient option.

 

[Mr. Dee]

This is exactly why I am delaying my upgrades until 2021. Too much unknown. Buy a 16 inch MacBook Pro next year fall and its turns out to be a supported legacy product with may two planned operating system upgrades.

My MacBook Pro is working fine for me anyway, not to mention, there are users in here who have kept theirs for nearly 10 years. Don't see why I can't.

Its an exciting, but uncertain period where we will see many first generations of new Apple products and technologies.

 

[MacLawyer]

Hopefully the unified apps won't look too awful on the Mac. If they do, I will have to reluctantly part company with Apple.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The day macOS finally succumbs to their closed loop, I’m out. All I ever saw the Mac App Store as was them testing the waters to see if they could get away with it. I honestly still refuse to use it.

Me too.
I can’t stand the restrictions on iOS for both the OS and the Apps on it.

 

[Cosmosent]

RE: "When the idea of universal apps was first rumored in 2017, ..."

Post-Nov 1st, 2018, I'm NOT sure the concept still holds water.

AAPL NO longer reports Unit Sales for iOS devices or Mac computers.

Which key decision maker is going to commit Resources to project(s) when they have NO idea how good a market OR segment may be doing.

AAPL's decision to stop reporting Unit Sales was made to protect Tim Cook & his team from getting Fired, before they could figure out a way out of the mess that they created (i.e., over-playing their hand & moving the iPhone product line so upscale).

And, that decision has UN-intended consequences.

I have 20K R&D hours as an iOS app dev, + 2K R&D hours as a Mac app dev, under my belt ... IMO, AAPL only really needed to make sure that as much of UIKit as possible could be used in native Mac dev.

The smartphones that Samsung "officially" announces in a few hours has many of us App Devs excited, much more so than anything AAPL has done lately.

Recommend everyone pay close attention to the quantity & quality of DRAM in the new Galaxy S10 smartphones.

Contrary to Tim Cook's "what's a computer" iPad TV commercial, smartphones are just "fancy computers" ! ... Cook, to this day, still doesn't understand that DRAM is critically important to App Dev ... case in point, where are ALL the AR apps he promised ??? guess what Tim, NO ONE can make them without a sufficient amount of DRAM.

 

[rockarollr]

I said this a long time ago: Apple’s long-term goal is to get the closed-platform iOS to replace the open-platform macOS as their mainstream operating system. I believe this has been their ambition and goal since changing the name from iPhone OS to iOS back in 2010.

Even though it’s a pretty slimy business tactic, Apple stands to make a LOT more money off of software and services that way. Everything has to go through them... and their cut of the profits.

Apple will eventually phase out macOS as iOS becomes more mature and feature-rich. Once everyone stops complaining about what iOS doesn’t have, and everyone seems fairly satisfied it can do everything they need, Apple will give macOS the axe. Bank on it.

 

[W.O.P.R.]

So Tim... Does this move make the Mac a fridge that can make toast or a toaster that can keep your soda cold?

 

[slb]

Because there will always be iOS apps not running on macOS, and there will always be macOS apps not running on iOS. You would want macOS users with an Android phone to find your app, wouldn't you?

The article claims there will be one store by 2021.

 

[cmaier]

The article claims there will be one store by 2021.

Yep, sorta. Though a lot can change between now and then. Makes sense, though. The Mac app store is more or less a wasteland. It gets a little weird at some point - take MS Office, for example. You can now get the full office on the mac app store, and pretty good but not really office office on the iOS app store. It seems unlikely that microsoft, any time soon, converges it all into one scalable app. So you end up with "office lite" for iOS? Reminds me of the old days with separate iPhone and iPad apps.

 

[M150]

This only really makes sense if they add touch screens to Macs. How are you supposed to make multi touch apps universal.
The difficulty is developing complex apps that have a user interface that scales in a meaniful way from phone screens to desktop monitors. Even developing for current iPhones when you have multiple controls that comfortably fit on the medium and large size phones it’s a problem fitting everything to a SE screen size.