Demystifying Modern macOS Development

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

For many years Apple, arguably left the Mac to languish for years while it focused on iOS and the iPhone. The Mac repeatedly got features years later than its mobile cousins, and the hardware was often behind and underpowered. But now, Mac app development is currently in the best state that it has been in a very long time, thanks to three major developments:

Apple released Catalyst, which translates iPad apps into native macOS apps.
SwiftUI’s learn once, apply anywhere design has made it dramatically easier to share code between macOS and iOS
Apple silicon allows us to run iOS apps natively on the Mac without even translating.

The good news is that we’ve never had so many powerful, first-party supported ways to develop Mac apps. The not so good news is that it’s never been so confusing. Today we will dive into the subtle differences between each of these approaches.

Catalyst on Daniel Lyons

Demystifying Modern macOS Development

Introduction