Investigate running the app on macOS

herzbube commented 1 year ago

In Xcode on the "General" tab of the "Little Go" target there is a checkbox for "Mac Catalyst".

Reference: https://developer.apple.com/mac-catalyst/

herzbube commented 3 months ago

The current build apparently can already be downloaded, installed and executed on Silicon Macs. In the Mac App Store the app is listed under "iPhone & iPad apps".

What more does "Mac Catalyst" bring to an app?

theophanemayaud commented 3 months ago

I currently use it on a MacBook with M2, downloaded from the App Store, it runs great ! Maybe catalyst enables Intel Mac compatibility… ?

herzbube commented 3 months ago

@theophanemayaud That's very nice to hear! Until today I was not even aware that the app can be installed on desktop computers via the Mac App Store.

I now browsed through the "Mac Catalyst" introduction and the first tutorial steps. These are my takeaways:

An app that adopts Mac Catalyst runs natively on macOS. Without Mac Catalyst the implication is that the app somehow runs via a compatibility layer, but I have not been able to find out any details on short notice.
Mac Catalyst allows an app to be enhanced so that it has a better macOS user experience. The example given in the tutorial is to replace the tab bar with a sidebar.

These two points are already sufficient for me to decide that I will not adopt Mac Catalyst.

Making the app run natively may require additional work to build libraries and frameworks being used by the app.
Enhancing the app for macOS would require special code to be written for that platform.

In summary, Mac Catalyst means more work, so it's out for me. I am very glad that the app as it is runs out of the box on macOS, but I can't afford additional time to support another platform.

herzbube / littlego

Investigate running the app on macOS #394