Apple’s cross-platform Mac Catalyst apps have banished most of their problems in MacOS Big Sur. It took a while, but they are finally showing their promise.
Apple’s M1 Macs are finally here, and that means the dream of using iPad apps on a Mac is finally a reality. Mac Catalyst, Apple’s system that allows developers to port their iPad apps to the Mac, makes it all possible. But are these apps ready for prime time? In previous years, Catalyst has been beset with problems, mostly centered around poor design decisions on Apple’s part. So, with MacOS Big Sur out in the wild, we took a second look to see whether it’s a new feature you’ll love, or still a half-baked compromise. Looking back, it seems obvious Apple was in a rush with Mac Catalyst. Though we did not know it at the time, Apple’s plan to ditch Intel processors was well underway when Mac Catalyst launched in 2018, and that necessitated a tool that could help developers get their apps ready for the brave new world. Yet the idea of how an iPad app should work on a Mac was nowhere near settled, and even Apple apparently did not have the answer. It was very out of character for a company that prefers to wait until a technology is perfect rather than rushing to market with something that is not ready. Two and a half years later, Apple seems to finally have a grip on its Mac Catalyst apps. Through many successive iterations, it has ironed out the creases that marred its early attempts. That means we can finally recommend Apple’s own take on Mac Catalyst apps, albeit not wholeheartedly. Today, we examine the reasons why. When I looked at the range of Mac Catalyst apps in the Big Sur beta, Music was by far the worst of the bunch. It was a strange situation to find the app in, as it had been completely useable in MacOS Catalina, yet fell off a cliff in the beta of the next version of the Mac operating system. Perhaps someone at Apple was listening to my ranting and raving in that article, because Music has been greatly improved in the full release of Big Sur. The biggest improvements come to the Radio tab, which was a real mess during the beta.
