Versions App Software That Would

Steinbergers team spent about three months creating and optimizing the PDF Viewer app for Mac with Catalyst.

Apple first gave a sneak peek at Mac Catalyst -- formerly known as Project Catalyst and Marzipan -- at its 2018 WWDC conference.

Versions App Software That Would

Catalyst was formally unveiled at WWDC 2019 in June as software that would make it possible for developers to move iPad apps to the Mac by simply checking a box in the development program Xcode.

The news was met with enthusiasm and some wariness by developers, who had long wanted a way to make their apps accessible across Apples different platforms -- particularly after watching the Mac ecosystem languish while iOS and iPadOS apps grew into the millions, despite MacOS still having more than 100 million active users.

While early apps created for Mac with Catalina werent well received by users, the release of MacOS Catalina brought several more to the Mac App Store that seem to have benefitted from more time in development.

The technology remains in its infancy, but it has allowed smaller development shops who otherwise wouldnt have the resources to create Mac apps to do so with relative ease.

Our vision for Mac Catalyst was always to make it easier for any iPad app developer, big or small, to bring their app to the Mac, said Todd Benjamin, MacOS product marketing director.

This allows them to leverage one codebase and one development team.

Mac Catalyst gives iPad app developers a huge head start and for many, an opportunity to expand their reach onto the Mac platform that they may not have had before.

Not only is this great for developers, but its also great for Mac users, who benefit with access to a whole new selection of great app experiences from iPads vibrant ecosystem.

Heres a look at where Catalyst stands now, and how the technology aims to improve the Mac experience for users and developers.

Catalyst will help keep the Mac from falling behind on engineering bandwidth and features, said developer Steven Troughton-Smith.

But its initial rollout was rocky at best: The first four apps created with the software and released by Apple itself on MacOS Mojave in 2018 -- News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home -- were rudimentary at best, CNET said at the time, and failed to take advantage of the Macs full capabilities.

While Apple software chief Craig Federighi told CNET that they would be improved, major changes have yet to come.

With the official arrival of MacOS Catalina, however, more apps were added to Mac with Catalyst and they improved upon the first four.

Podcasts in particular was modified with native Mac menus and looks similar to native Mac apps like Music, TV and Books.

The new Find My app was another where Apple used Catalyst, and its been generally well-received.

Some of the new third-party iPad apps to arrive on the Mac via Catalyst included Rosetta Stone, GoodNotes, Carrot Weather and Twitter.

But generally, more than 100 Catalyst apps are mixed in with all the others in the Mac App Store, with no designation that they were created with Catalyst.

Some of the most anticipated apps for Mac, including DC Universe and Asphalt 9: Legends, remain in development.

Asphalt 9, a hugely popular free-to-play racing game, was delayed until later this year so its developers can further polish the experience.

Once its ready, the games Mac version will allow players to sign into a single account across their Apple devices, to more easily switch between them and continue playing the same game, said Catalin Vasile, technical director at Gameloft Barcelona, the development studio behind Asphalt 9.

The Mac setup also allows the game developers to push all of the details further while running at 60 frames per second without worrying about battery life, Vasile said.

Versions App For Mac