iOS 12 and new MacOS may let Mac users download iPad apps

By Mark Jansen Published February 1, 2018

Apple has pushed back some planned features for upcoming iOS updates in order to allow engineers to work on ensuring iOS 12 is as smooth and bug-free as possible. But one key feature is apparently still in the works for 2018: The ability to run iPad apps on a Mac laptop.

According to Axios, Apple’s focus for iOS 12 is on security and performance updates, thought the company still plans to update its software to allow Macs to run iPad apps in 2018, both as a part of the newest mobile operating system and, presumably, as an update to MacOS. The Mac’s ability to run apps has long been seen as an issue, with the Mac App Store being viewed by many as a “ghost town” stocked with out-of-date apps, with even major apps like Twitter being painfully neglected.

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Allowing Macs to access iPad apps would change that pretty much immediately, letting developers create apps for the iPad and Mac simultaneously, and not having to prioritize one over the other — a practice that has thus far led to MacOS getting the short end of the stick.

We’ve seen moves like this before from other companies. Google recently updated ChromeOS devices such as Chromebooks to access and download apps from the Google Play Store, and while the implementation is still a little rocky, taking these steps towards unifying disparate elements of the same empire is generally seen as a good thing for consumers.

This move in itself comes at a good time for Apple. The release of iOS 11 has been a low-key disaster for Apple, with bugs plaguing users from day one. Issues like disappearing notifications, glitches with the keyboard, and Touch ID failures are some of the problems that have arisen from iOS 11, and are issues that people rarely expect from a company like Apple. By choosing to focus on eliminating as many bugs as possible in iOS 12 and polishing it to a near-mirror shine, Apple is showing how seriously its taking the issues that people have had with Apple. It’s also notable that this comes after the Spectre vulnerability, and the major PR disaster that was the revelation that Apple purposefully slowed down older phones — prompting investigations into planned obsolescence.

Former Mobile Evergreen Editor

Mark Jansen is an avid follower of everything that beeps, bloops, or makes pretty lights. He has a degree in Ancient &…

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