Also, the @available syntax lets you target platform and version for specific SDK calls.
I think if Apple did this, they would do it “right”. They would also let developers opt into Mac as another platform by making it another target.
As a Developer, I’m hoping they do this soon. I’d also make sure it’s done well.
This is gonna be done via Bit Code. Apple introduced it a few years ago. They will just provide iOS libs for the Mac and a Mac OS Bit Code backend platform for the Store. Build once, deploy many.
Too many panic attacks! If this is true, give Apple the benefit of the doubt that they will implement this very well and have thought it through. In addition, they might surprise you in terms of new hardware-based innovation that makes running iOS apps on a laptop intuitive and fun. Apple always does this where they try something very timidly (Touch Bar) and learn from it for the 'real thing'. For example, just like they got rid of the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 so that it is a non-issue on the real thing (iPhone 8 and X), they may be on their way to get rid of the mouse, the keyboard, and the trackpad and the mouse pointer on the screen! Imagine your whole keyboard and trackpad area as one large multi-touch trackpad and you interact with it using one, two, or more "fingers" that you see representations of on the screen (to replace the mouse pointer). You can force-touch, zoom, etc etc.. but not smudge the screen and obscure the content and get gorilla arms. A virtual keyboard is available at any time for typing as usual with force-touch feedback. The line is blurred, but the solution is not watered down. Instead, it is a new innovative human-computer interaction paradigm. And the software is now a non-issue as it runs on iOS and macOS with exactly the same input paradigm.
Mouse support would actually allow the iPad to become a "real" computer. Que the "what's a computer" jokes. :-)
This is my point entirely as well. If you start adding in the mouse to iPad apps you essentially just have a thin laptop. The entire point of the iPad was to avoid a mouse. The entire point of a desktop OS is to use a mouse. Splicing the two together holds no water, and has no dignity in the investment made during development. This isn't thinking different, this is thinking like the rest of the crowd and becoming a sheep. I'm none to happy about it either, but hey, I guess this is where we go. We give up on rock solid ideas that won entire platform wars to be just like the rest of the engineers losing ground.
Jobs rolled over when they came out with the Apple Pencil. So it will be time to add mouse support to iOS apps. They really should make an iOSBook.
This maybe apple’s way of saying the Touchbar has been a failure. Otherwise why didn’t they come out with a keyboard for the desktop as an option.
Maybe Tim Cook wants a Surface Pro, Surface Lap, and a surface Book.
Yeah because Steve NEVER, EVER flip flopped on something he said... HA He was only the ultimate flip flopper so I don't want to hear about anyone rolling in their grave. Besides, who really gives a shit? This isn't Steve's company anymore so why does anyone care what the hell Steve said? Why does someone always have to bring up what Steve said when he was CEO? Get over it...Steve is gone and Apple is still doing fine Mr. Armchair Executive.
I recycled my 2009 MBP and 2006 intel iMac for a 2017 MacBook just to have the latest and greatest MacOS. I love having Messages at my fingertips as well as the improved Notes App. I would be thrilled if I had access to my AppleWatch App on my MacBook. Maybe the News app, too.
I have to be honest, I kind of want to vomit now. This only underscores them backtracking on years, and years, and years, of research and design.
Ehh...what? iOS simulators in OS X have been there for, like, at least 5-7 years. Yes, these are available only to developers, but that is still the same tech. You don't need any separate research/dev to be able to run iOS apps. Would it need some cleaning before you can present it to the general public? Sure.
I recycled my 2009 MBP and 2006 intel iMac for a 2017 MacBook just to have the latest and greatest MacOS. I love having Messages at my fingertips as well as the improved Notes App. I would be thrilled if I had access to my AppleWatch App on my MacBook. Maybe the News app, too.
Best.
I would also love to have the News and Home apps on the Mac as well. It still boggles my mind why the Home app is missing on macOS, or even a widget.
Mouse support would actually allow the iPad to become a "real" computer. Que the "what's a computer" jokes. :-)
This is my point entirely as well. If you start adding in the mouse to iPad apps you essentially just have a thin laptop. The entire point of the iPad was to avoid a mouse. The entire point of a desktop OS is to use a mouse. Splicing the two together holds no water, and has no dignity in the investment made during development. This isn't thinking different, this is thinking like the rest of the crowd and becoming a sheep. I'm none to happy about it either, but hey, I guess this is where we go. We give up on rock solid ideas that won entire platform wars to be just like the rest of the engineers losing ground.
Jobs rolled over when they came out with the Apple Pencil.
Nonsense. The Pencil is a drawing tool for a limited use case, it is not at all what he meant by "blowing it" if a device required a stylus to operate as they did in years past (remember Palm?). This is old, old news.
I have to be honest, I kind of want to vomit now. This only underscores them backtracking on years, and years, and years, of research and design. The touch screen is not the desktop and vice versa... ...It did not work for Microsoft, and it did not work for Google, why in the hell is Apple doing this? ...But this is ripping up the playbook and crapping on the idea of a tablet OS and a desktop OS. They are separate....
I think that you need to reread the article... particularly this part:
With the expected upcoming changes, developers will be able to create a single application that can work with either a touchscreen, a mouse, or a trackpad.
I do not think that there is any backtracking of the original stance from the Jobsian days. It is just a common build with all the binaries for touch based wearable watch, mobile phone and tablet; pointer based devices like the AppleTV; mouse and trackpad based desktops and laptop portables; and soon (I hope) voice based digital assistants like the home pod. These will always remain separate targets, but the developers toolchain will be significantly simplified. Developers already separate the user interface, from the business logic from the data from the communication protocols between the different parts.... all that this adds is an additional interface view (pretty easy for apps that already support a light mobile interface with a heavy desktop browser view) - most of the code, which is sitting in the cloud, anyway, remains the same
Apple are the only one who can pull this off, because of the their control of all the target platforms - of course it does not work well when developers also want to target Windows, Chrome, Android etc. desktop, browser and mobile operating systems.
In my experience, the reason why developers have been slow to embrace the Mac AppStore has been because there are many toolchains that target multiple mobile operating systems, but few that target multiple desktop operating systems as effectively and economically as targeting the desktop browser has been. So I doubt that this strategy will change much... unless, Apple creates a compelling case for developers to build apps that interact directly with their desktop counterparts without the round trip via the cloud.
Several times, this. The dev value-add here would be being able to utilize your exact same business access layer of models and class libraries, and just having different front-end views calling it (your iOS front-end, your tvOS front-end, and now perhaps your macOS front-end), all in one project. As you said this removes some barriers and eases pain points.
I'd bet this is more likely what they're implementing.
Mouse support would actually allow the iPad to become a "real" computer. Que the "what's a computer" jokes. :-)
This is my point entirely as well. If you start adding in the mouse to iPad apps you essentially just have a thin laptop. The entire point of the iPad was to avoid a mouse. The entire point of a desktop OS is to use a mouse. Splicing the two together holds no water, and has no dignity in the investment made during development. This isn't thinking different, this is thinking like the rest of the crowd and becoming a sheep. I'm none to happy about it either, but hey, I guess this is where we go. We give up on rock solid ideas that won entire platform wars to be just like the rest of the engineers losing ground.
No one said you’ll use a mouse on the iPad version of the app, only that you can have an app that runs on both platforms. This doesn’t cause the fragmentation you’re speaking of. Use a mouse when you work on MacOS and touch when you’re working in your iPad. Doesn’t sound bad to me in anyway. I have several apps I like to use on my iPad and would very much like to see the devs add this capability to them.
To be honest, I can't think of any iOS App I would use on my Mac except maybe for Infinite Flight. The Mac App store is already pretty damn good and offers a lot, especially for my needs.
This is really interesting. I expect a lot of discussion on this rumor.
I personally think it is a good thing. More options, more interoperability can't be bad. Much depends on the details of course, because the corollary is that loss of functionality is always bad.
There are things I want a persistent cursor for. Others, not so much. Like nearly everything, the optimal tool is what you want to do. It is a personal choice.
Things I sort of been waiting for: a standalone screen, keyboard, mouse...with just a slot to slide your iOs device in. Many many many people do not need huge graphics or computing power. But they do expect to see their content in a familiar fashion. And, I've been expecting a macOS emulator that does about the same thing. I've often wanted a little window on my desktop that looks like my iOS device that I can interact with. Sounds like maybe this is coming.
I have to be honest, I kind of want to vomit now. This only underscores them backtracking on years, and years, and years, of research and design. The touch screen is not the desktop and vice versa... ...It did not work for Microsoft, and it did not work for Google, why in the hell is Apple doing this? ...But this is ripping up the playbook and crapping on the idea of a tablet OS and a desktop OS. They are separate....
I think that you need to reread the article... particularly this part:
With the expected upcoming changes, developers will be able to create a single application that can work with either a touchscreen, a mouse, or a trackpad.
I do not think that there is any backtracking of the original stance from the Jobsian days. It is just a common build with all the binaries for touch based wearable watch, mobile phone and tablet; pointer based devices like the AppleTV; mouse and trackpad based desktops and laptop portables; and soon (I hope) voice based digital assistants like the home pod. These will always remain separate targets, but the developers toolchain will be significantly simplified. Developers already separate the user interface, from the business logic from the data from the communication protocols between the different parts.... all that this adds is an additional interface view (pretty easy for apps that already support a light mobile interface with a heavy desktop browser view) - most of the code, which is sitting in the cloud, anyway, remains the same
Apple are the only one who can pull this off, because of the their control of all the target platforms - of course it does not work well when developers also want to target Windows, Chrome, Android etc. desktop, browser and mobile operating systems.
In my experience, the reason why developers have been slow to embrace the Mac AppStore has been because there are many toolchains that target multiple mobile operating systems, but few that target multiple desktop operating systems as effectively and economically as targeting the desktop browser has been. So I doubt that this strategy will change much... unless, Apple creates a compelling case for developers to build apps that interact directly with their desktop counterparts without the round trip via the cloud.
Several times, this. The dev value-add here would be being able to utilize your exactly same class libraries of business access functions, and just having different front-end views calling it (your iOS front-end, your tvOS front-end, and now perhaps your macOS front-end), all in one project. As you said this removes some barriers and eases pain points.
I'd bet this is far more likely what they're implementing.
Agreed. @Flytrap 's conjecture makes perfect sense to me. There are thousands upon thousands of iOS developers. If XCode made it easier to create a macOS app based off a iOS app, many companies would make the small investment to also deploy a macOS app.
I have to be honest, I kind of want to vomit now. This only underscores them backtracking on years, and years, and years, of research and design. The touch screen is not the desktop and vice versa. This is the Red Wedding of macOS essentially to me.
Too much BS in one comment. Who said they are backtracking?
Having iOS apps being available on Mac doesn't mean they'll operate like they do on iOS -- they'll obviously provide APIs that allow for adaptable interface sizes and layouts between Desktop and mobile, and for adjustable targets (e.g. buttons etc) for touch vs mouse.
While "the touch screen is not the desktop" touch screen apps like games are perfectly OK (if not even better) on a desktop, especially if little of their controls are related to touch or accelerometers and co.
Besides, the iPad and especially iPad Pro's have some very handy apps that are desktop-worthy, and who didn't feel out of place used with a mouse / touchpad.
Plus Apple can always make a hybrid form factor between mobile/table and Desktop that runs macOS, but on which iOS apps could feel great. Imagine something as light as the Macbook or more but with added touch capabilities or split tablet screen.
Mouse support would actually allow the iPad to become a "real" computer. Que the "what's a computer" jokes. :-)
This is my point entirely as well. If you start adding in the mouse to iPad apps you essentially just have a thin laptop. The entire point of the iPad was to avoid a mouse. The entire point of a desktop OS is to use a mouse.
Nope. That's totally un-Apple like thinking.
The entire point of either device is ergonomics and fit for purpose.
Not about "avoiding the mouse" specifically or not.
And future devices and form factors can erase this divide even further. Not to mention future UIs can be trivially (although costly) made adaptable to mouse and touch input modes (just note like MS did it). E.g. a Cocoa UI framework that can switch to different sized/shaped targets for buttons and different layouts for apps depending on whether it's used in a touch-device or a mouse-capable one. Which has nothing to do with "avoiding the mouse" or "using a mouse".
Heck, lots of programmers ALREADY share tons of backend code between their Desktop and mobile version of their app. This will make it easier to share UI code too.
Besides:
As a gamer, I prefer a joystick, controller or a racing steering wheel when using desktop games. As a musician a prefer a MIDI keyboard/controller. As a designer, I prefer a digitizer or digital pen. As a disabled person I prefer a special controller for typing/pointing. etc.
All of those alternative input modes can use with a desktop or a tablet -- and they're neither touch nor mice, yet apply to tons of apps in very important sectors (gaming especially is a billion dollar market).
Using touch or mouse can equally co-exist as all of the above, depending on the app and use case.
I don't see Apple allowing touch UI Apps on the Mac. I think what is more likely is Apple creating tools to help developers create universal Apps. The Apps would still be required to have the appropriate UI for each platform. As a developer, I would seriously consider take advantage of this. I could have one App that runs on all of Apple's major platforms.
I understand where you are coming from (and I don't believe Apple will allow mouse support. But I will take usability over "dignity" in this case. The fact is, inserting a cursor anywhere on any iOS device is an exercise in frustration. Touches sliding a single digit off as I lift my finger, no arrow back and forward on the virtual keyboard, multiple taps for spelling options, why can't I figure out how many times to tap to bring up copy and paste? etc. The fact that iPhone has the ability to force touch the cursor is a "better" solution and the iPad two finger swipe is a "better" solution, but both of those are emulating trackpad/mouse behavior but doing a poorer job of it. Don't even get me started on trying to select text to copy and paste. These are poor usability as a result of touch screens. Mouse support would only be a factor for those who wanted to use the device that way. Android devices support mouse and it hasn't stopped people from using the touch screen as a primary interface.
You do know that copy and paste is a click and hold function, correct? You don't tap multiple times to enable copy and paste. It works very well in fact.
I haven't used mouse for years now on my Macs. It's either a Wacom tablet or a trackpad. Whether my fingers manipulate objects on a monitor in front of me (via trackpad) or on an iPad on my lap or desk makes no difference to me. Bring on the single OS!
Comments
I recycled my 2009 MBP and 2006 intel iMac for a 2017 MacBook just to have the latest and greatest MacOS. I love having Messages at my fingertips as well as the improved Notes App. I would be thrilled if I had access to my AppleWatch App on my MacBook. Maybe the News app, too.
Best.
I would also love to have the News and Home apps on the Mac as well. It still boggles my mind why the Home app is missing on macOS, or even a widget.
But you didnt hear it from Apple. You get that, right? That a rumor is not a product announcement from Apple?
I'd bet this is more likely what they're implementing.
I personally think it is a good thing. More options, more interoperability can't be bad. Much depends on the details of course, because the corollary is that loss of functionality is always bad.
There are things I want a persistent cursor for. Others, not so much. Like nearly everything, the optimal tool is what you want to do. It is a personal choice.
Things I sort of been waiting for: a standalone screen, keyboard, mouse...with just a slot to slide your iOs device in. Many many many people do not need huge graphics or computing power. But they do expect to see their content in a familiar fashion. And, I've been expecting a macOS emulator that does about the same thing. I've often wanted a little window on my desktop that looks like my iOS device that I can interact with. Sounds like maybe this is coming.
Having iOS apps being available on Mac doesn't mean they'll operate like they do on iOS -- they'll obviously provide APIs that allow for adaptable interface sizes and layouts between Desktop and mobile, and for adjustable targets (e.g. buttons etc) for touch vs mouse.
While "the touch screen is not the desktop" touch screen apps like games are perfectly OK (if not even better) on a desktop, especially if little of their controls are related to touch or accelerometers and co.
Besides, the iPad and especially iPad Pro's have some very handy apps that are desktop-worthy, and who didn't feel out of place used with a mouse / touchpad.
Plus Apple can always make a hybrid form factor between mobile/table and Desktop that runs macOS, but on which iOS apps could feel great. Imagine something as light as the Macbook or more but with added touch capabilities or split tablet screen.
The entire point of either device is ergonomics and fit for purpose.
Not about "avoiding the mouse" specifically or not.
And future devices and form factors can erase this divide even further. Not to mention future UIs can be trivially (although costly) made adaptable to mouse and touch input modes (just note like MS did it). E.g. a Cocoa UI framework that can switch to different sized/shaped targets for buttons and different layouts for apps depending on whether it's used in a touch-device or a mouse-capable one. Which has nothing to do with "avoiding the mouse" or "using a mouse".
Heck, lots of programmers ALREADY share tons of backend code between their Desktop and mobile version of their app. This will make it easier to share UI code too.
Besides:
As a gamer, I prefer a joystick, controller or a racing steering wheel when using desktop games.
As a musician a prefer a MIDI keyboard/controller.
As a designer, I prefer a digitizer or digital pen.
As a disabled person I prefer a special controller for typing/pointing.
etc.
All of those alternative input modes can use with a desktop or a tablet -- and they're neither touch nor mice, yet apply to tons of apps in very important sectors (gaming especially is a billion dollar market).
Using touch or mouse can equally co-exist as all of the above, depending on the app and use case.