Apple is looking to change the way developers design apps, aiming to create a single set of apps that work on iPhones, iPads and Macs, Bloomberg reports. While developers currently have to create different apps for iOS and macOS, sources familiar with the development claim Apple is ramping up a push to have developers create a single application that can worth with either a touchscreen or a mouse and trackpad while performing equally well across multiple devices.
The move is aimed at freshening up the Mac App Store, which features fewer apps and versions that routinely lack the updates of their iOS counterparts.
A single app will ensure all users on all devices get the same updates at the same time, and the sources said Apple plans to roll out the change in a major iOS and macOS update next fall — although the plans are still fluid, so the ambitious project could still be changed or canceled all together. While Tim Cook has resisted such a move in the past, other large tech companies have made similar efforts, with Google bringing the Play mobile app store it uses for Android phones to its desktop Chrome OS and Microsoft pushing its Universal Windows Platform that allows the same apps to be used on tablets, phones and computers.
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