Project Catalyst

Last month at WWDC, Apple officially named Catalyst as its new framework for allowing developers to bring their iPad apps to Mac and we’ve heard more information trickle out about the software over the last few weeks. Now, Ars Technica has put together a highly informative deep dive on Catalyst ahead of its release with macOS Catalina that includes detailed insight from Apple executives and third-party developers who have already been using the software. In addition to lots of useful information for developers, there are details about what Mac users can expect and what Apple is doing to make sure porting iPad apps to macOS doesn’t mean Mac apps will become watered-down.

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At WWDC last week, Apple announced its new Project Catalyst technology to make it easier for developers to bring iPad applications to the Mac. Apple teased that Twitter was an early partner and would be using Project Catalyst to bring Twitter back to the Mac. Now, Twitter has offered up some more details on that process in a blog post.

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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off on June 3rd. Last week, we shared exclusive details about iOS 13 and macOS 10.15. Today, we are sharing details about new features and APIs for developers that should be announced at the event, according to sources familiar with the development of Apple’s new operating systems.

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During the “It’s show time” event in late March, Apple announced that the TV app would be coming to the Mac soon. This naturally sparked discussions about whether Apple would be bringing its other media apps to the Mac, finally splitting up iTunes into distinct applications.

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One of the trends we’ve seen over the years in K–12 is the move away from native applications for the desktop. In fact, outside of Microsoft Office, I don’t know of a mass market application that’s launched as a native app on macOS in my entire time as an IT Director in education since 2009. Content/development firms for K–12 have always wanted a write once and run everywhere approach. It was tried with Java. It was tried with Flash. Both of those worked for a time, but they had clear faults. I would argue that we’re just now in the post-Flash era in K–12. Now, with Marzipan, Apple is giving a shot to the write once and run everywhere strategy. What will be the impact of Marzipan in K-12?

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There have been several reports noting that Apple will be switching away from Intel processors for its Mac lineup in favor of its own in-house ARM chips as soon as 2020. Axios is today reporting that several developers and Intel officials also expect the move as early as next year.

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We learned a little more today about Apple’s plans for Marzipan, its UIKit that will make it easy for developers to port iOS apps to the Mac.

Today’s report suggests that the project will be rolling out a little more slowly than expected, with an SDK for third-party apps launching at this year’s WWDC – but only for iPad apps …

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Apple is planning a multi-year roadmap for its cross-platform app project. First previewed at last year’s WWDC with the launch of the News, Stocks, Home and Voice Memos app, Marzipan makes it near-automatic for developers to port iPad apps to macOS.

A third-party SDK for Marzipan will launch at this year’s WWDC for iPad and Mac universal apps. According to Bloomberg, Apple plans to add Marzipan-esque conversion of iPhone to Mac apps in 2020. The publication also says that Apple has ‘weighed previewing’ a new version of the Mac Pro at the conference.

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On Monday, Adobe unveiled Photoshop CC for iPad, one of the most ambitious third-party software projects we’ve ever seen for iOS. With over 28 years of history on the Mac, moving to a new platform is no easy feat. Photoshop’s breadth of tools makes it essential to the workflows of many creative professionals. Even though it won’t ship until next year, there’s already considerable interest and numerous questions from curious iPad users and Photoshop fans about the upcoming app. 9to5Mac talked with Photoshop’s Senior Product Manager Jenny Lyell to learn more about Adobe’s goals for Photoshop on iPad and to clear up a few pressing questions.

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With macOS Mojave, Apple introduced four apps that were previously only available on iOS: Stocks, News, Home and Voice Memos. During the presentation, speculation began on how these could be the iOS apps themselves, ported to the Mac with the rumored Marzipan project. At the end of the Keynote, Craig Federighi presented a sneak peek at a multi-phase project they’ve been working on. Without giving it any name, Craig explained that this project allows iOS apps to be ported to the Mac with minimal effort,that Apple used this for their News, Stocks and Voice Memos apps and that it would become available to third-party developers next year. I decided to explore this project and see just how minimal an effort it would be to port an existing, real-world iOS app to the Mac.

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5/1: Updated with new details below…

Over the last few months, reports have suggested that Apple is working on a new cross-platform feature that would allow across iOS and macOS. While the feature has been speculated to be included in iOS 12, a new report says it’s not coming until 2019 and may not be as extensive as initially thought…

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Apple will add new developer tools that will enable developers to design and engineer a single application that runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, according to a report from Bloomberg. This will be a huge step for the Mac app ecosystem especially, as it should make it easier for third-party developers to maintain one app that runs on iOS and Macs.

The apps would be designed in such a way that they can work with a touchscreen, mouse, and trackpad depending on which platform the app is running on. The new ability is scheduled to launch with iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 next year, but the timeline could change.

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