On stage at WWDC 2018, Craig Federighi put an end to long-standing speculation and predictions that iOS and macOS will merge. While the answer to that idea was a resounding NO, we will see four iOS apps on macOS Mojave.
Mark Gurman broke the news that Apple would make this move as early as December of 2017. Our own John Kheit called for this exact move by Apple in 2014.
[iPad/iPhone Apps Should Run as ‘Desk Touch Apps’ in OS X]
News, Stocks, Home, Voice Memos
First, Apple News is coming to macOS Mojave, so I can check that off on my wish list. Apple News is a great way to get the latest news from your favorite publishers, at least for U.S. customers. There was no word on whether Apple News will be available in more countries.
Now that the News app is on macOS, I wonder if news publishers will use Apple News more. For some Apple News readers like me, who get the majority of their news from the app, there is even less incentive for me to visit each publisher’s website.
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Apple News
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Apple Stocks
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Apple Home
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Apple Voice Memos
The Stocks app on macOS will show stocks and business articles curated by Apple News editors. That was something that stuck out to me when I watched the keynote. Susan Prescott, VP of product marketing at Apple, mentioned the human curation of Apple News several times. This is in stark contrast to companies like Facebook and Google, who rely on algorithmic curation, and this has landed both companies in hot water in the past.
In the Home app, you can control your HomeKit-enabled smart home from your Mac. Turn lights off, adjust thermostat settings, and more without leaving your Mac. Finally, with the Voice Memos app, iOS and macOS memos will be synced via iCloud. You’ll also be able to drag and drop memos into other apps like Garage Band.
[iOS 10.3: How To Hide News Sources In Apple News]
I am very glad that they have the Home app. I usually have my iPhone, Apple Watch, or iPad handy, but not always.
I hope that they fix the design flaw in Messages where pressing Return sends the messge instead of adding a new line. Yeah, I know the Option Return does that, do the software designers know how to code a Send button?
While you make a valid usability point, as a software developer, I would look at is as a statistical question: I’d ask myself if I had data to support the notion that significantly more people will send single paragraph text messages or multiple paragraph text messages. If I have the data, I would plan to write my program to give the majority a better experience.
Then, I’d look at the behavior people are used to seeing. For example, on Facebook, when responding to a post, pressing the “return” (or “enter”) key will post the response. If people are already used to one behavior over the other, it makes the decision a little easier.
The software engineers at Apple are pretty bright. I’m sure they considered coding the Messages program the way you would like it but decided to go the other way. It was a design choice, not a design flaw.
From a developer’s standpoint, it’s very difficult to make every user happy. But, for most of us, that is what we try to do.