Mac apps built with Mac Catalyst share code with your iPad apps, and you can add more features just for Mac. The latest desktop-class features in iPadOS 16 translate beautifully onto macOS 13. Your Mac app’s toolbars are automatically optimized and document-based apps gain key features, such as menu items and the ability to rename the document in the toolbar. And you can use new Mac Catalyst APIs to enhance multiwindow behaviors, add custom views to your toolbars, and more.
Your iPad app can transform into an amazing Mac app using the latest version of Xcode. Begin by adding a Mac Catalyst run destination in the project settings of your existing iPad app to create a Mac app that you can enhance further. Your Mac and iPad apps share the same project and source code, so it’s easy to make changes in one place.
Your newly created Mac app utilizes the same frameworks, resources, and runtime environment as apps built just for Mac. Fundamental Mac desktop and windowing features are added, and touch controls are adapted to the keyboard and mouse. By default, your app will scale to match the iPad’s resolution. You can choose “Optimize interface for Mac” to use the Mac idiom, running your app using the resolution of Mac. This gives you full control of every pixel on the screen and allows your app to adopt more controls specific to Mac, such as pull-down menus and checkboxes.
You can create even more powerful Mac apps using the APIs and behaviors in macOS. Apps can be fully controlled using just the keyboard, and you can also create out-of-window and detachable popovers, control window tabbing using new window APIs, and make it easy for users to select photos in your app by using the Photos picker. iOS Photos editing extensions can be built to run on Mac. App lifecycle APIs make your app simple to manage when it’s running in the background. And now, you can use new APIs to allow window resizing and repositioning, set the style of window control buttons, show popovers for toolbar items, and implement new alert styles.
Mac Catalyst also supports many frameworks — including Accounts, Contacts, Core Audio, GameKit, MediaPlayer, PassKit, and StoreKit — to extend what your apps can do on Mac. If your app offers shortcuts or a widget, they automatically become available on Mac. HomeKit support means home automation apps can run alongside the Home app on Mac. And the ClassKit framework lets Mac apps track assignments and share progress with teachers and students.
Learn how to build a Mac app from the same codebase as your iPad app.
Download Xcode and use these resources to build Mac apps with Mac Catalyst.