New Catalyst Apps

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Learn what a Catalyst app is and how it benefits the Mac.

In this lesson for What’s New in macOS Catalina, I look at what a Catalyst app is on the Mac. Basically a catalyst app is an app that was originally developed or the iPad and ported over to the Mac. This allows a developer who has an iPad to easily make it available for the Mac. Some of the elements you see on a catalyst app are Mac like, while some are more iPad like. I take a look at a catalyst app in this video to show you these different elements.

Video Transcript (video also has closed captions):

In this video, we’re going to look at what a Catalyst app is on the Mac with macOS Catalina. Let’s go to my Mac, let’s go and open up my Applications folder. I go up to Go in the menu bar, and then we go over to Applications. I’m looking at all of my applications. You’re going to see an application here called CARROTweather. This is a very popular app on the iPad and the iPhone. Well, now it is available on the Mac. How is it available on the Mac? As a Catalyst app? What does that mean? Well, the developers of CARROTweather, what they were able to do is take their code for the iPad and port it over to the Mac. This is called a Catalyst app. This is primarily an iPad app, but it was ported over to run on the Mac. Let’s go ahead and open it up.

It looks like a regular Mac app. If I go up to the upper left-hand corner, we have our window controls. If I go over to the Share icon here, when I click on it, I have my standard drop-down that looks like it came from a Mac app. So far, it looks just like a standard Mac app, but watch what happens when I go over to Time Travel here. When I click on this, the window looks more like it came from an iPad. A Catalyst app is a mix between a Mac app and an iPad app. The way it works is for a developer who has developed an iPad app that can now port that over for the Mac, and it’ll run on macOS Catalina. It’ll have some elements of the iPad and then some elements of the Mac. Now, why would a developer want to do this?

Well, they no longer have to separate the code for the iPad and the Mac. Now, they no longer have to code it for the iPad and then create a separate, completely separate code for the Mac. They can code it for the iPad and then port it over to the Mac. What does that mean for us as the end-user? Not a whole lot, just a little bit of a different experience. An app that was ported over with Catalyst may have a feel of an iPad app. That’s what a Catalyst app is on macOS Catalina. It’s an app that was created for the iPad. Then, the developer is able to port that over to the Mac. It’s going to have some elements of the Mac, and it is going to have some aspects of the iPad.

That’s what a Catalyst app is with macOS Catalina.

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