Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Gruber: Apple's Cross-Platform App Support to Debut in 2019, Not 2018

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,537
30,847



Rumored cross-platform functionality that will allow Macs to run iPhone and iPad apps is planned for macOS 10.15 and iOS 13 rather than macOS 10.14 and iOS 12, according to well-known Apple journalist John Gruber.

Gruber shared the tidbit in a blog post covering "scuttlebutt" he's heard about the cross-platform UI project, which he says is indeed in the works at Apple.

ios-app-store-mac-app-store-800x443.jpg

News of support for universal apps able to run on iPhone, iPad, and Mac was first shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in December. At the time, Gurman said Apple would introduce the functionality in iOS 12 and macOS 10.14, with an announcement likely to happen at the Worldwide Developer's Conference in June.

Gurman and Axios' Ina Fried later confirmed in January that the combined app framework was on the table for 2018 despite other planned iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 features being pushed back, but Gruber says he's "nearly certain" it's a 2019 project for macOS 10.15 and iOS 13, which could also be part of an updated UI for iOS said to be coming next year. "I would set your expectations accordingly for this year's WWDC," he writes.

According to Gruber, from what he's heard through first and second-hand sources, Apple appears to be working on declarative control APIs for iOS and macOS, which suggests Apple wants to make it easy for developers to create modern cross-platform user interfaces. Gruber's info is not as definitive as outright support for cross-platform iOS and macOS apps as has been previously reported, but it is an indication that Apple is working towards that goal.
There's nothing inherently cross-platform about a declarative control API. But it makes sense that if Apple believes that (a) iOS and MacOS should have declarative control APIs, and (b) they should address the problem of abstracting the API differences between UIKit (iOS) and AppKit (MacOS), that they would tackle them at the same time. Or perhaps the logic is simply that if they're going to create a cross-platform UI framework, the basis for that framework should be a declarative user interface.
Click to expand...
It's not clear who is correct on the timing of the universal app project given the conflicting information, but we don't have long to wait to find out. macOS 10.14 and iOS 12 will be introduced at the keynote event of the Worldwide Developers Conference, which is set to take place on June 4.

Gruber's full writeup with additional details on the project can be found over at Daring Fireball.

Article Link: Gruber: Apple's Cross-Platform App Support to Debut in 2019, Not 2018
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/04/30/cross-platform-apps-coming-in-2019/
V

Val-kyrie

macrumors 68020
Feb 13, 2005
2,107
1,419
now i see it said:
Coming from Gruber, this is obviously a planned "fake leak" blessed by Apple. Apple giving us the heads up that cross platform apps are still a ways away.
Click to expand...

At most, it is another year away, but it could still be on the slate for June. At this point, it is only a matter of time.
 
Aldaris

Aldaris

macrumors 68000
Sep 7, 2004
1,790
1,247
Salt Lake
I think it would be great to announce and talk about development, giving developers a little over a year to work on apps. Giving some maturity to availability for 2019 os releases.

But that might be too optimistic. Marzipan and ARM in the same WWDC might be too much.
 
Quu

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
The only reason I want this feature is so I can use Homekit on my Mac. An App that is sorely missing. Though I'm sure for it to function would require more than just porting the Homekit app over, there is likely a lot of underlying dependencies woven throughout the iOS operating system that they would need to put in macOS as-well.

But hey, one can dream.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandstorm and Bswails
J

jpn

Cancelled
Feb 9, 2003
1,854
1,988
i think this new timing for cross-platform capability and the expected timing for a new MacBook Air is related.
 
twistedpixel8

twistedpixel8

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2017
868
1,872
asdavis10 said:
I hope Apple takes their time and gets this right. We don't need another repeat of macOS 10.13 and iOS 11.

But this will be huge if Apple gets it right. Another differentiator between Apple and Windows, Android, Chrome OS, etc.
Click to expand...

Am I the only one that doesn’t see how this can work? I don’t understand - you would have to implement so much UI and logic for each platform that apps will become bloated, no? You can’t simply scale apps for iPhone/iPad to Mac size, they wouldn’t look right. Not to mention touch vs. cursor input are used totally differently. Similarly, while the idea of layered pages swiping back/forth works for iOS, I don’t think it does for Mac.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki, Mr Todhunter, Glideslope and 4 others
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,142
31,195
Andres Cantu said:
So Ming-Chi Kuo will stop reporting on Apple news, and now Mark Gurman's story may not have been accurate?

It's a sad day for Apple rumors :(
Click to expand...
Gurman has sources but he’s not very good at interpreting what things mean or connecting the right dots. He thought Marzipan meant one OS. Gruber and others were always skeptical.
 
S

syklee26

macrumors 6502a
Jul 26, 2005
902
2,436
My concern about the cross platform is that this would be a nice excuse for app developers to significantly increase app price. Many will be angry!
 
Dimwhit

Dimwhit

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2007
2,068
297
I just hope this doesn't have a negative impact on the desktop apps. But I'd LOVE to run iOS apps on my computer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PlayUltimate
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom