A secretive project at Apple said to be code-named “Marzipan,” may not actually bring iOS and MacOS together after all. Although initially thought to be a cross-platform tool for developers to make apps for both Apple’s mobile and desktop operating systems at once, it may instead be something that could theoretically make it easier to craft apps with multiple user interfaces in mind.
Although there have been rumors of Apple blending its two major operating systems over the past few months, it doesn’t seem like many actually want it to happen. Tim Cook certainly doesn’t think so, and Digital Trends readers mostly echoed his sentiments. That hasn’t stopped the supposed “Marzipan” project from drawing much interest however, even if now it appears to not be quite what the original rumors suggested.
Much like those original rumors, the latest report on the matter comes from anonymous sources within Apple. However, Daring Fireball appears to be quite certain in the report’s claims, suggesting that the project is more of a “declarative control API,” than a tool for porting apps from one OS to the other. As The Verge highlights, this wouldn’t necessarily make it possible to bring iOS apps to MacOS and vice versa, but would instead make it easier to craft a single user interface for both platforms. The apps themselves would still need to be programmed for each platform individually.
“The general idea is that rather than writing classic procedural code to, say, make a button, then configure the button, then position the button inside a view, you instead declare the button and its attributes using some other form,” Fireball’s John Gruber explained.
The sources also claim that Marzipan is no longer the code name for the internal project, if it was ever named that at all. Gruber has yet to reveal the name, though has posted up a hashed version of it, to be able to reveal it for “bragging rights,” when it’s safe to do so.
Sources suggest that Apple won’t reveal whatever the Marzipan project is during 2018 Apple developer conference in June, and we may be waiting until some time in 2019 for its release.