One of the great advantages of the new ARM Macs, which Apple will probably introduce on Tuesday evening, is the fact that they can also run iOS and iPadOS applications without changes. Apple has specially integrated routines into macOS 11 aka Big Sur, which make touchscreen programs usable on the Mac. The code itself does not have to be changed, after all, the iPhone and iPad also run on Apple’s ARM chips. However, Apple has built in a barrier: not every iOS or iPadOS app will run automatically. Instead, the group offers its developers to prevent execution on the Mac.

A common app store for all programs You can recognize in Apple’s new App Store, which is now merged with Apple Silicon on Macs. As 9to5Mac reports, various well-known developers have decided not to release their iOS or iPadOS apps for the Mac at first .

By default, programs always appear in the “Unified App Store”. But there is an opt-out option that developers can easily choose. This applies to the official Facebook app as well as to its daughters Instagram and WhatsApp. The iOS version of Messenger doesn’t run on the Mac either.

Facebook and Google don’t want Google doesn’t always go along with it either: Google Maps, Google Drive and Gmail are annoyingly missing. Well-known games such as “Real Racing 3”, “Candy Crush” or “Among Us” also remain outside. Among others, “Subway Surfers” and “Temple Run” are available. Netflix is ​​probably participating in streaming services, but Amazon Prime Video and Disney + are missing. Apparently, Snapchat will also not be available.

If an app is available for iPhone and iPad, but not for Mac, the download is of course only possible on these devices. Otherwise, Apple states that the app was designed for iPhone or iPad, but runs on macOS, although it is “not verified”. It remains to be seen what problems iOS and iPadOS applications will actually cause on an ARM Mac. Apple promises at least broad compatibility. However, certain features are simply missing – in addition to the missing touchscreen, a Mac, for example, has no cell phone chip, at least according to the current status.

(bsc)