Apple has announced that it is officially launching the ability for developers to sell Mac and iOS apps as a single purchase. Apple first detailed these plans back in February, teasing that the functionality would roll out to developers in March.
Apple made the announcement in a post on its developer website this evening:
The macOS version of your app can now be included in a universal purchase, allowing customers to enjoy your app and in‑app purchases across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS by purchasing only once. Get started by using a single bundle ID for your apps in Xcode and setting up your app record for universal purchase in App Store Connect.
As we explained last month, the developer simply must change their Mac app to use the same bundle identifier as their iOS app. The App Store will handle the the unification process. In-app purchases can also be shared across iOS and Mac for the first time. Apple explains:
You can choose to make an in-app purchase available in multiple platform versions of your app. First create a single in-app purchase under the Features tab in App Store Connect, then use StoreKit to implement the in-app purchase in the various platform versions of your app.
The goal here is clearly to promote more adoption of the Mac Catalyst platform, which allows developers to bring iPad applications to the Mac.
One important thing to note is that despite Apple’s announcement today, there aren’t yet any applications to offer support for universal purchases between Mac and iOS. This is because Apple has not yet made the Xcode 11.4 GM available to developers.
Developers can learn more about offering universal purchases on Apple’s developer website. What do you think about universal purchases for Mac applications? Let us know down in the comments.
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