UIKit on macOS - The Holy Grail of Cross-Platform
summary
Apple’s new Mac Catalyst is UIKit running on macOS via Xcode 11 with a checkbox to build iOS apps as native Mac apps, but expect work: many prebuilt frameworks need recompile binaries for Catalyst (new x86_64 slice / XCFrameworks), UI defaults UI scales ~77% (17pt→14pt) so typography and thumbnails must be adjusted, windows are resizable via the UIScene API and tab bars often move to the toolbar, and an unofficial mix AppKit via NSBundle hack lets AppKit windows co-exist with UIKit windows.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction and excitement
- 1:28History of UIKit and AppKit
- 3:12Challenges of iOS to Mac porting
- 5:18Project Catalyst explained
- 6:19First Mac Catalyst build attempt
- 8:49How Mac Catalyst works
- 10:55Content scaling and font differences
- 12:16Adapting UI for macOS
- 15:03Mixing AppKit with UIKit
- 17:34Key takeaways and recommendations
- 19:41Future of cross-platform development
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21mEffective Migration to Mac Catalyst
20mImplementing macOS-Only Features Missing on iOS with Catalyst
31mLeveraging AppKit to Improve Your Catalyst App
19mNative macOS application, or the world of AppKit
36miOS to visionOS: How to prepare your app for the future
45mfunc inspiration
36mSwiftUI Everywhere
34mHacking Marzipan, Running iOS apps on Mac
