Apple's cross-platform app solution likely to debut in 2019, report says
According to a new report from well-connected blogger John Gruber, Apple's project to deliver macOS support to iOS apps will debut in 2019, not 2018 as previously guessed.
Citing "little birdies," Gruber confirmed work on the initiative that will allow iOS apps to run on Mac, but said the feature will not be unveiled at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference.
"I'm nearly certain this project is not debuting at WWDC 2018 in June, and I doubt that 2018 was on the table in December," Gruber writes. "It's a 2019 thing, for MacOS 10.15 and iOS 13.1 I would set your expectations accordingly for this year's WWDC."
Word of the cross-platform app framework first leaked in December when Bloomberg reported on the project, saying it would launch sometime in 2018 as part of iOS 12 and macOS 10.14. A follow-up report from Axios seemingly confirmed a launch this year, saying the plan is to allow iOS apps -- iPad apps in particular -- to run natively on macOS with little or no input from developers.
The initial reports were painted in broad strokes and left much to the imagination. Gruber, citing "mostly second-hand" sources, fills in some of the blanks, saying the feature appears to be a type of declarative control API. Under such a system, developers would be able to declare an asset and assign it attributes rather than creating it procedurally.
As Gruber notes, the solution is not "inherently cross-platform." It does, however, suggest Apple is working to address API differences in iOS and macOS, allowing developers to more easily deploy apps that function on both platforms. The company could also be laying the groundwork for a true cross-platform user interface that integrates declarative control APIs.
Former Microsoft Windows division president Steven Sinofsky chimed in on Twitter, saying the process of cross-platforming is not as simple as adding an abstraction layer to an app or implementing a UI-abstracting framework. Indeed, developers still need to code operating system capabilities. If Apple were to integrate OS controls and capabilities into a new framework written for both iOS and macOS, or build a framework that integrates with existing resources, it could "make [cross-platforming] work," Sinofsky says.
Beyond a few tidbits regarding how the system might work, Gruber says the initiative is no longer referred to internally as "Marzipan," a codename mentioned in initial reports.
When, exactly, Apple intends to reveal the iOS-macOS framework remains to be seen, but developers will likely get a better idea of the company's plans come June.
Citing "little birdies," Gruber confirmed work on the initiative that will allow iOS apps to run on Mac, but said the feature will not be unveiled at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference.
"I'm nearly certain this project is not debuting at WWDC 2018 in June, and I doubt that 2018 was on the table in December," Gruber writes. "It's a 2019 thing, for MacOS 10.15 and iOS 13.1 I would set your expectations accordingly for this year's WWDC."
Word of the cross-platform app framework first leaked in December when Bloomberg reported on the project, saying it would launch sometime in 2018 as part of iOS 12 and macOS 10.14. A follow-up report from Axios seemingly confirmed a launch this year, saying the plan is to allow iOS apps -- iPad apps in particular -- to run natively on macOS with little or no input from developers.
The initial reports were painted in broad strokes and left much to the imagination. Gruber, citing "mostly second-hand" sources, fills in some of the blanks, saying the feature appears to be a type of declarative control API. Under such a system, developers would be able to declare an asset and assign it attributes rather than creating it procedurally.
As Gruber notes, the solution is not "inherently cross-platform." It does, however, suggest Apple is working to address API differences in iOS and macOS, allowing developers to more easily deploy apps that function on both platforms. The company could also be laying the groundwork for a true cross-platform user interface that integrates declarative control APIs.
Former Microsoft Windows division president Steven Sinofsky chimed in on Twitter, saying the process of cross-platforming is not as simple as adding an abstraction layer to an app or implementing a UI-abstracting framework. Indeed, developers still need to code operating system capabilities. If Apple were to integrate OS controls and capabilities into a new framework written for both iOS and macOS, or build a framework that integrates with existing resources, it could "make [cross-platforming] work," Sinofsky says.
Beyond a few tidbits regarding how the system might work, Gruber says the initiative is no longer referred to internally as "Marzipan," a codename mentioned in initial reports.
When, exactly, Apple intends to reveal the iOS-macOS framework remains to be seen, but developers will likely get a better idea of the company's plans come June.
Comments
*To be fair this applies to many apps and their iPad versions.
For some maybe that distinction isn't clear, so perhaps imagining an iPad app running on an iPhone would be a better example. They support different aspect rations and resolutions so you end up with something that is less than ideal not to mention UI elements that were designed for the larger display now running on a small display.
We can look at the early days of the iPad to see iPhone apps running on the iPad. The I/O is virtually identical yet an iPhone app on the iPad was always a piss poor experience. Would an ARM-based Mac need that same kind of support until Intel-based macOS apps can be updated in the Mac App Store? Was that a Band-Aid Apple would want to repeat? Did it help iPad sales? Did it hinder iPad app development?
Personally, I'm more interested in how a unified code base—not unified or cross platform apps—will help with just getting iOS apps to run on the Plus version of the iPhone, @3x, without being scaled up from the @2x. I feel like it's been long enough.
This is how you would render a button in react native, this is rendered down to a UIButton somewhere in the parser code. The Render function returns what looks like HTML ( technically JSX) which allows the coder to style the button using HTML/CSS type styling patterns. Apple doesnt want this to become the default for building on iOS as it will probably not use Apple design patterns but probably realises there are some advantages to HTML.
var Button = require('react-native-button');
var ExampleComponent = React.createClass({
render() {
return (
<Button
style={{borderWidth: 1, borderColor: 'blue'}}
onPress={this._handlePress}>
Press Me!
</Button>
);
},
_handlePress(event) {
console.log('Pressed!');
},
});
You are wrong.
The Plus devices don’t upscale @2x to @3x at all. Until the iPhone X, @3x was a theoretical resolution - that was (and still is on Plus devices) a resolution that is rendered both by design and GPU at that exact size. At which point @3x ((1242 x 2208) portrait orientation) is downscaled to match the actual res of the plus device’s 1080 x 1920 screen real estate. (Think taking a hi-res photo and down-scaling to a smaller size, to fit a smaller frame)
You couldn’t be more wrong, and for me it’s a point of contention, I am an iOS developer and love to read these kinds of articles as it affects my future in possibly positive or negative ways, we have an uncertain future and Apple are paving the way...You are a stockholder so maybe you should be more vocal on defending/attacking the articles that are more aimed at you as a stockholder/manipulator/kool aid drinker, and leave the basics (a blank Labrador got it) of how @3x works to those that understand it. And just to be clear whilst you have a misunderstanding of “theoretical res” on the plus devices, actual @3x res was already achieved by Apple with the iPhone X last year. Get out of your station and get with the program already. Get out of bed, get out of your pajamas and get a life. Just saying.
"The truth is that this effort by Apple is almost certainly not about cross-platform applications but instead cross-platform frameworksfor developers. It’s developer news, not user news."
https://daringfireball.net/2017/12/marzipan
and
"WHAT IS IT? I don’t have extensive details, but basically it sounds like a declarative control API."
https://daringfireball.net/2018/04/scuttlebutt_regarding_ui_project
...an API for cross-platform control use. Perhaps something like a markup language for declarative placement of UI controls. But he never said it's to "run iOS apps on Mac" and flat-out said that's likely wrong.
So just stop. You're pushing a narrative that isn't supported by the facts you say they are. I know you guys aren't software developers, but would it kill you to contact one and have them translate the technical jargon for you?
To put this another way to make sure there's no confusion, you're saying that if you have an app designed for the 4.7" iPhone with a 1334×750 display, it'll be windowed on the 5.5" iPhone with a 1920×1080 display. That's a 165 pixels on each side and 293 on both the top and bottom. I've never seen that, except for when you could run 3.5" iPhone apps on the iPad due to the different aspect ratios. It's always scaled to the size of the display.
Please note that I only needed one link to prove my point. Just because some dumbass Chinese devs/stackoverflow cretins - don’t optimise their apps to support @3x, is the onus on Apple? Are we having the same convo?