Apple’s ‘Marzipan’ could enable developers to publish a unified app for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Apple’s ‘Marzipan’ could enable developers to publish a unified app for iPhone, iPad and Mac
HIGHLIGHTS

The cross-device development kit by Apple is reportedly codenamed ‘Marzipan.’ It is said to enable programmers to write a single app that could work for the iPhone, iPad and the Mac.

Highlights:

  • Apple’s cross-device development kit is said to be codenamed ‘Marzipan’.
  • The kit might enable app developers to write a single app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
  • App devs might not even need to submit the app on different app stores for review. 

At last year’s MWC 2018 event, Apple announced that it is working on a platform that will cut down work for those who are developing apps for both iOS and macOS. The company’s senior VP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, also unveiled some Mac apps like Stocks, Home, News, and Voice Memos apps that were a result of the said technology. Now, Bloomberg reports, citing people close to the development, that by 2021 Apple could bring in a multistep initiative code-named “Marzipan,” which will enable developers to write apps that will work on the iPhone, iPad and the Mac. This could mean that by 2021, app devs might not have to rewrite code for developing the same app for different platforms or submit the apps to different app stores for review. 

Marzipan could be announced at this year’s WWDC event and is said to initially enable devs to port apps developed for iPad to Mac. Even though app makers won’t need to code twice for making two separate apps (as coding can be simply copied over), they will reportedly need to submit two different versions of the app to Apple’s Mac App Store and the iOS App Store. As per the report, Apple is planning to evolve the development kit by 2020 so that one can change iPhone apps to Mac apps in a similar manner. In 2021, as mentioned above, developers will get to use Marzipan to develop a single app that will apparently be called a “single binary” and will be usable on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. 

Making use of the reported cross-device development kit, developers will be able to submit a single app for review on one App Store. As it is being reported right now, Marzipan will be a boon for programmers as it is a chore to rewrite code multiple times for the same app, but for different devices. However, since this is not yet official news, we suggest you take this with a pinch of salt as the company might change some things around. News of the app merging plan by the company comes soon after the reports of Apple planning on soon unveiling a video streaming hub and news subscription service.

Related Reads:

WWDC 2018: Apple brings updates to Photos app, announces Siri Shortcuts

WWDC 2018: Apple announces iOS 12, ARKit 2 and more

Digit NewsDesk

Digit NewsDesk

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