iOS and macOS cross-platform apps coming next year

The developer tools to create apps that work on macOS and iOS without much tweaking aren’t coming until next year. That claims Apple blog Daring Fireball based on information from insiders. Plus, the iOS and macOS integration isn’t as deep as it seemed before.

It is likely that Apple will create developer tools that work declaratively, which would make it easier to build an app that runs on macOS and iOS without defining an app appearance. There is still little concrete information about what these joint tools for iOS and macOS will look like, reports Daring Fireball.

The “declarative control API,” as the site describes it, should work on both macOS and iOS, and then developers can use UIKit and AppKit to interface their app for both operating systems. Daring Fireball knows the internal name for the project, but author John Grueber only mentions it in a tweet as sha1 hash. The tools should be released next year with iOS 13 and the concurrent version of macOS.

Daring Fireball contradicts earlier information from financial news agency Bloomberg. He claimed in December that Apple had wanted to make universal apps that work on iOS and macOS possible this year. Bloomberg said in January that Apple had delayed some of the new features for iOS 12 to allow time for improvements to iOS 11. Apple is said to have taken that step after it faced many complaints about iOS 11. Problems with deteriorating performance with aging batteries, Apple also had to fix security vulnerabilities with HomeKit twice in the past few months.