macOS Tahoe Brings Two iPhone Apps to Your Mac

[kamilstudios]

The two iPhone apps: Phone, Journal, and Games

Because the Phone and Journal apps were originally iPhone apps. The Games app on the other hand is a new app that was introduced simultaneously for iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and MacOS 26.

So technically, the two iPhone apps in the title is correct.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Heavy user of Diarly on Mac OS and my iPhone. Absolutely love this journaling app. I don’t see myself leaving it for Journal but I hope I can at least export my entries to the Journal app as a backup if Diarly ever goes away.

Never even considered the Journal app while it was an iOS app only.

 

[trip1ex]

What’s bloatware for one is a treasure for another. I for one am looking forward to Journal for Mac and iPad as well as iPhone.

That’s not to say that the app itself isn’t bloated. It is, and it’ll probably get even more bloated before long. A journal should be lean and efficient. I don’t need state of mind suggestions and I don’t need to know how many words I’ve written.

I do agree that they should make apps like these available on the App Store for free to download instead of a default part of the os. If it’s not integral to the operating system, don’t force it on every Mac. If they do that, then that’s bloatware!

It's bloatware. It's not even necessary. There is a Notes app. Just like they let you bullet point stuff in Notes ...just let people "bullet date" everything they type. Problem solved. Next.

 

[MNWildFan]

The fact that it took as long as it did for the phone app to come to macOS is kind of silly if you ask me, but hey, better late than never!

 

[coolfactor]

Why hasn’t Apple brought the Classical app to Mac? I don’t use my phone for music—I use my Mac. And I’m a professional musician!

Isn't the Classical catalog available through Music on the Mac?

 

[coolfactor]

If they can fit the hardware into an iPhone they can surely fit it into a Mac. No idea why they don't make this an option.

It would be fantastic, but I'm curious if they haven't done this yet because most users wouldn't subscribe to a cellular plan just for their Mac?

 

[russell_314]

Isn't the Classical catalog available through Music on the Mac?

It’s available through Music on iPhone. The lack of real separation between the Music and Classical apps is the reason why I stopped using it.

 

[russell_314]

It would be fantastic, but I'm curious if they haven't done this yet because most users wouldn't subscribe to a cellular plan just for their Mac?

It would be just adding an eSIM whenever you needed it. I wouldn’t subscribe to a cellular plan.

 

[**maestro**]

Isn't the Classical catalog available through Music on the Mac?

The classical catalogue is technically available through the regular Music app on Mac, but the experience is nowhere near what the Apple Classical app offers. That app was created specifically to address the long-standing issues classical listeners face—like the lack of proper metadata, the inability to group works and movements correctly, and the difficulty of searching by composer, soloist, conductor, or ensemble.

In the general Music app, it’s often incredibly difficult—or even impossible—to find what you’re looking for, especially if you’re after a particular recording of a specific work. The search results are a mess, and the app just isn’t structured for classical music at all.

Apple finally acknowledged that with the standalone Classical app, which is why it’s baffling that it hasn’t been brought to Mac—especially when many serious listeners and professional musicians (like myself) rely on desktop setups for high-quality audio and library management. It’s not just a preference—it’s a necessity.

 

[ignatius345]

It would be fantastic, but I'm curious if they haven't done this yet because most users wouldn't subscribe to a cellular plan just for their Mac?

Yeah, maybe they've done some kind of research that estimates too low of a number. I still think it would be an excellent value add for those who really need it. (I'm not one of them, but I could really see this being a plus for corporate machines where they don't want employees using janky hotel wifi, etc.)

My thinking is that if an iPad Pro, with a pretty similar use case, thoretically, as a MacBook can have a cell modem, why not the Mac.

 

[ignatius345]

It's bloatware. It's not even necessary. There is a Notes app. Just like they let you bullet point stuff in Notes ...just let people "bullet date" everything they type. Problem solved. Next.

Yeah, and while we're at it, let's get rid of the bloated "Finder" as well. There is a Terminal app. Just type in the directory you want to view. Problem solved. Next.

 

[ignatius345]

What’s bloatware for one is a treasure for another. I for one am looking forward to Journal for Mac and iPad as well as iPhone.

That’s not to say that the app itself isn’t bloated. It is, and it’ll probably get even more bloated before long. A journal should be lean and efficient. I don’t need state of mind suggestions and I don’t need to know how many words I’ve written.

I do agree that they should make apps like these available on the App Store for free to download instead of a default part of the os. If it’s not integral to the operating system, don’t force it on every Mac. If they do that, then that’s bloatware!

Exactly. I honestly probably will not use the Journal app becuase I'm already journalling text only in the writing app of my choice. But I would not begrudge anyone else using it, and I definitely feel like software they offer on iOS should be offered on a Mac if the hardware supports it.

 

[FFMcGee]

The Games app is an embarrassment. Has a hard time detecting even Mac App Store games on an external device, let alone games downloaded from the web. Doesn't detect Steam games at all. Doesn't detect a controller (Apple said you'd be able to navigate Games with a controller.) I get this is a beta but it doesn't need to be this embarrassing.

 

[ForkHandles]

The Journal comes to Mac - sounds great ⭐️
Hope importing my journals and post from DayOne wont be a lot of trouble.
Looking forward to explore this to start with anyway.

Journal just isn’t there yet for me.

As soon as they allow the text entry to be as formatable as in the Notes app with inline pictures and title options, I’ll be in. Until then it’s just a page of dull looking text.

 

[ignatius345]

The writing is on the wall. For more than a decade, DayOne has been my go-to journaling app. It’s comfortable, natural, and intuitive. But alas, I feel that I must transition to Apple. If for no other reason, Apple’s Journal app has a better chance of enduring long after I am gone, and a journal must endure.

I don't know about that! DayOne will happily export out to plain text (.txt) and Markdown (.md). Those are likely to be readable well into the foreseeable future of computing. With Journal... god knows. I assume it'll be some complex file buried way deep in the OS, like the Notes database is.

 

[trip1ex]

Yeah, and while we're at it, let's get rid of the bloated "Finder" as well. There is a Terminal app. Just type in the directory you want to view. Problem solved. Next.

if only the analogy made sense.

 

[thebart]

I wish they'd get Netflix to build a native app for the Mac.

 

[Moka Akashiya]

Yeah, and while we're at it, let's get rid of the bloated "Finder" as well. There is a Terminal app. Just type in the directory you want to view. Problem solved. Next.

Why do you want Apple to shove a bunch of undeletable junk down everyone's throat, deciding for everyone? This is called a straw man, when you make an exaggerated argument with Finder, which turns out to be as valuable to the system as journal/chess/etc. This is just fanaticism and useless debates about the possibility of customizing the system for yourself. For some reason, even on iOS you can delete almost all apps, but it turns out that only macOS users can delete something important by accident with this made-up example with the Apple support.

 

[Ear Booker]

Good to see Phone. It's been silly that I could answer a call on my Mac, but unless I wanted FaceTime I couldn't make calls with it.

You can make calls that aren’t FaceTime on your Mac if you have Wi-Fi Calling and Calls on Other Devices are turned on both your iPhone and Mac. You can call your Contats, phone numbers on web sites are parsed so you can click them and “call using iPhone,” and you can have Siri dial numbers as well, but it’s good to finally have the call continuity we’ve had for years finally break free of the FaceTime app and into its own app.

 

[ignatius345]

Why do you want Apple to shove a bunch of undeletable junk down everyone's throat, deciding for everyone?

It kind of sounds like people love to scroll through their Applications folder and freak out about tiny pre-installed apps like News, Stocks, Chess... or this Journal app, that weigh in at literally a few MB each -- the size of a few photos.

And throwing around terms like "bloatware" is totally silly. On PCs bloatware refers to stuff like pre-installed trials of paid third-party stuff that pops up and pesters you to pay for it. On a Mac, you're using that term to talk about tiny apps that you never have to see unless you go hunting around for them.

Again, something you don't want may well be something someone else uses. Nobody is forcing you to launch and use any app.

 

[Lioness~]

Journal just isn’t there yet for me.

As soon as they allow the text entry to be as formatable as in the Notes app with inline pictures and title options, I’ll be in. Until then it’s just a page of dull looking text.

Agree, I'll keep DayOne for now - I just payed for another year subscription (~$35).
We'll see where Apple are next year?

 

[seek3r]

It kind of sounds like people love to scroll through their Applications folder and freak out about tiny pre-installed apps like News, Stocks, Chess... or this Journal app, that weigh in at literally a few MB each -- the size of a few photos.

And throwing around terms like "bloatware" is totally silly. On PCs bloatware refers to stuff like pre-installed trials of paid third-party stuff that pops up and pesters you to pay for it. On a Mac, you're using that term to talk about tiny apps that you never have to see unless you go hunting around for them.

Again, something you don't want may well be something someone else uses. Nobody is forcing you to launch and use any app.

Wait until GP finds out about everything in /usr/bin, they may have a coronary

 

[Moka Akashiya]

It kind of sounds like people love to scroll through their Applications folder and freak out about tiny pre-installed apps like News, Stocks, Chess... or this Journal app, that weigh in at literally a few MB each -- the size of a few photos.

And throwing around terms like "bloatware" is totally silly. On PCs bloatware refers to stuff like pre-installed trials of paid third-party stuff that pops up and pesters you to pay for it. On a Mac, you're using that term to talk about tiny apps that you never have to see unless you go hunting around for them.

Again, something you don't want may well be something someone else uses. Nobody is forcing you to launch and use any app.

You kinda ignored other points. Are you agreed that Finder analogy was silly after all? And that we can allow apps customization for macOS like on iOS?

I don't like to scroll my Application folder. This is why i like to uninstall/hide useless apps from my systems, to have less noise there and don't see it in spotlight completion. I already created separated subfolder for my apps and pinned it to the dock, but some still needs to be in Applications root to be found by other apps for binaries inside them, like XCode/Chromium/Android Studio. So i still need to check both folders sometimes or symlink everything and unlock new problems with this method. It would be much easier to just hide everything i never use in Applications list, like it was possible before specific macOS release.

I checked definition of bloatware and this is basically "unwanted or unnecessary sofware that comes pre-installed by vendor" that consumes space/battery and have no meaningful benefits to the user. I know there is much ******** bloatware in Win/Android, but even by your definition, there is one single key press that stops you from seeing big ass subscription banner from Apple. This is F8 key on any mac aka Play button. If you don't have any other players active it just opens Apple Music (hardcoded behavior that cannot be changed) and opens Home page with nothing but ad banner on it. Just tested my first Apple Music opening. Same thing for Mac App Store with Apple Arcade banner. There is also other services that are always in background, like photos library process, icloud and other things, just not as bad as on Windows.

I just saying that everyone can have personal choice of hiding and removing useless apps, disabling animations, rebinding keys, like you can do that in older MacOS versions, but not anymore. You think that Apple knows better what should be restricted for user, for some reasons. Just speak for yourself please. I'm not saying that journal should be removed for everyone, just having option to remove it for myself. Not a biggest macOS problem of course, personally the only thing i want is a way to disable spaces swipe animation to be very happy with the system and nothing else.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Glad to finally see these 2 apps coming to the Mac.

 

[ignatius345]

You kinda ignored other points. Are you agreed that Finder analogy was silly after all? And that we can allow apps customization for macOS like on iOS?

I don't like to scroll my Application folder. This is why i like to uninstall/hide useless apps from my systems, to have less noise there and don't see it in spotlight completion. I already created separated subfolder for my apps and pinned it to the dock, but some still needs to be in Applications root to be found by other apps for binaries inside them, like XCode/Chromium/Android Studio. So i still need to check both folders sometimes or symlink everything and unlock new problems with this method. It would be much easier to just hide everything i never use in Applications list, like it was possible before specific macOS release.

I checked definition of bloatware and this is basically "unwanted or unnecessary sofware that comes pre-installed by vendor" that consumes space/battery and have no meaningful benefits to the user. I know there is much ******** bloatware in Win/Android, but even by your definition, there is one single key press that stops you from seeing big ass subscription banner from Apple. This is F8 key on any mac aka Play button. If you don't have any other players active it just opens Apple Music (hardcoded behavior that cannot be changed) and opens Home page with nothing but ad banner on it. Just tested my first Apple Music opening. Same thing for Mac App Store with Apple Arcade banner. There is also other services that are always in background, like photos library process, icloud and other things, just not as bad as on Windows.

I just saying that everyone can have personal choice of hiding and removing useless apps, disabling animations, rebinding keys, like you can do that in older MacOS versions, but not anymore. You think that Apple knows better what should be restricted for user, for some reasons. Just speak for yourself please. I'm not saying that journal should be removed for everyone, just having option to remove it for myself. Not a biggest macOS problem of course, personally the only thing i want is a way to disable spaces swipe animation to be very happy with the system and nothing else.

no way I'm reading all this. Later!