Apple to unify iOS and macOS apps to form one single market? New unified apps could rollout in 2018

Selecting and using apps from the Mac App Store does not offer Mac users the same experience that iOS users have when they use apps from the Apple App Store. In an attempt to change this, Apple is believed to be working on a way to present new unified apps that will work on both iOS and MacOS flavored devices. Sources familiar with Apple's plans say that  the company will come up with a way to allow developers to design a single app that will work on the iPhone, iPad and Mac. This could happen starting as soon as next year.

Developers currently have to work on two different versions of the same app in order to cover both iOS and MacOS. Apps designed for the latter have typically been neglected which explains how the same app with the same name can have different capabilities on your iPhone and your Mac. One example cited by Bloomberg is the Twitter apps for iOS and MacOS. The MacOS version missed several updates received by the iOS app, and does not offer the same feature set as the one used on the iPhone and iPod.

By offering universal apps for iOS and MacOS, Apple would be able to make sure that Mac users will have access to the latest version of apps. Make no mistake about it. This would potentially be a big deal as far as Apple and its users are concerned. App developer Steven Troughton-Smith says, "This would be the biggest change to Apple’s software platform since iOS was introduced." The developer also stated that offering unified apps would allow iOS and MacOS to "evolve and grow as one, and not one at the expense of the other."

source: Bloomberg