MacLife UK – August 2019

THE IPAD ISbecoming a more
powerful creative tool in its
own right (see page 24), but
Apple also wants to make it a
superb accessory to your Mac.
Sidecar, a new feature in
macOS 10.15, extends or
mirrors your Mac to an iPad
as a second display, either
wirelessly (in a short range,
quoted as 33 feet) or via USB
cable. The latter allows the
iPad to charge from your Mac.

It’s an option that alr y

works well with third–p y

apps like Astropad Studi

and Duet Display, which

be “Sherlocked” by Sid

Pencil is supported, and

a Touch Bar will appear

the iPad whether or not

Mac has it. It seems all d

capable of running iPad

support it, but only Mac

recent than late–2015.

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Your Mac and iPad

work together

Sidecar in macOS 10.15 lets you use your

iPad and Pencil as a graphics tablet

readyy

party

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h couulldd

decar.

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iPadss

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But

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More iOS apps

will come to

macOS

Catalyst, aka Marzipan,

bridges the divide

between platforms

We got our first taste of Marzipan (sorry!)

last year, when Apple unveiled a project

to allow developers to create apps for the

Mac with UIKit, the toolbox normally used

for iOS and regarded as easier to get to

grips with than macOS’ AppKit. Both are

part of Apple’s free Xcode, but many

companies making iOS apps say it’s not

worth their while to develop for the Mac.

Catalyst, as Marzipan has now been

officially named, should encourage them.

UNIVERSAL APPS

Apple led the way with some apps of its

own, including News, showing that

Marzipan worked but provoking criticism

that they didn’t feel like proper Mac apps.

According to Federighi, this wasn’t

actually because of any UIKit limitations

but “just design decisions” — d’oh. Now

that Catalyst is available as an Xcode

SDK, other developers can start making

universal apps that work on both

platforms. The company also announced

SwiftUI, which lets coders design user

interfaces simply by declaring the

components they want to appear.

You’ll be able to expand your workspace with Sidecar.

maclife.comAUG 2019 19

WWDC 2019