Universal apps coming to the Mac — at last, one purchase to rule them all!
- feb
- 05
What you need to know
- We are ever-closer to truly universal Apple apps.
- Cupertino released the first Xcode 11.4 beta today, February 5.
- The company also released the first developer beta versions of iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4.
This is big news for developers and end-users.
The first Xcode 11.4 beta includes some big news for developers and Apple device users alike. Thanks to Catalyst, developers will soon have the ability to create one app for Mac that's also usable across iPhone and iPad. In doing so, end-users could eventually be able to buy one app and have it run on every Apple platform.
Currently, developers can release one app for both iPhone and iPad. By making the changes mentioned above, Apple's definition of universal app could soon officially change to also include macOS.
According to the Xcode 11.4 beta release notes:
Xcode 11.4 supports building and distributing macOS apps as a universal purchase. To distribute your macOS app as a universal purchase, specify the same bundle identifier as your iOS app in the Xcode template assistant when creating a new project. If you have an existing project, edit its bundle identifier in the Project Editor.
Universal purchase is enabled by default for new Mac Catalyst apps created in Xcode 11.4. When you create a new Mac Catalyst app, it will use the same bundle identifier as your iOS app.
Automatic signing in Xcode 11.4 supports building Mac Catalyst apps with a custom bundle identifier. You can edit the bundle identifier of your app using the Signing & Capabilities tab in the Project Editor. If you choose to build your Mac Catalyst app with a custom bundle identifier that does not match your iOS app, you will not be able to distribute the app as a universal purchase.
First announced in June 2019, Catalyst lets developers create iPad apps that can also run on Mac. The software-development tool was officially released with iPadOS 13 and macOS Catalina last fall.
The first Xcode 11.4 beta was released to developers today, February 5, alongside the first beta developer versions of iOS 13.4, iPadOS 13.4, and watchOS 6.2.