Apple's ARM MacBooks will support iPhone and iPad apps on macOS 11 Big Sur, with caveats

We are but a few hours away from Apple's next hardware event, where the company is expected to announce the biggest change to its Mac hardware since the release of the first MacBook Pro in 2006. Today's event is thought to be the jumping-off point for the next major macOS release too, which is yet to receive a general release date. Apple announced macOS Big Sur (macOS 11) in June at WWDC 2020, while its release candidate arrived last week.

As Apple confirmed in June, macOS Big Sur will support iOS and iPadOS apps, a first for macOS. These apps will be available from the Mac App Store, rather than Apple porting the iOS and iPadOS App Store across. Theoretically, all iOS and iPadOS apps will be automatically displayed in the Mac App Store, although it will be up to developers if they want their apps shown.

However, many prominent developers have decided against doing so for the time being, including Amazon, Google and Facebook. Hence, apps like Amazon Prime Video, Google Maps, Google Drive Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and WhatsApp will all be capable of running on ARM Macs, but none will be available to download. Netflix will be there though, as will HBO Max. Ultimately, Mac users have been getting along fine with web versions of most of these apps for a while now, so their commission will probably not be a great loss. 9to5Mac notes that some developers may be taking time to optimise their iOS and iPadOS apps for macOS Big Sur, so some big names may arrive eventually. However, plenty will not be available at launch.