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Port iOS app to macOS
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Description

Apparently, the next version of macOS (Catalina) will come with a “Project Catalyst” which will facilitate ports of iOS apps to macOS. Apple’s own marketing — interpret this with as much hesitation as you would like — suggests that apps could be ported over to macOS in a matter of days. And I have reason to believe this would be the case, since i(Pad)OS and macOS are fundamentally the same platform, so I imagine most of the changes have to do with using the “correct” UX metaphors.

So... Wikipedia has an iOS app, including an iPad app that is actually meant to be used on iPads. If it would not be much effort, a Wikipedia app on macOS would be mindblowingly cool, especially as fun new features are added to the app.

Event Timeline

What's wrong with your web browser on the mac...

JMinor moved this task from Needs Triage to Garage on the Wikipedia-iOS-App-Backlog board.

+1 user through the iOS support email requesting for this, too.

It looks like there's something explicitly preventing this happening. Many other apps show things like "Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS."; the Wikipedia app just doesn't show up at all.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238 says

This app is available only on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

The xcode project looks like it should work on macOS...

Screenshot 2023-08-17 at 16.51.00.png (344×874 px, 56 KB)

Does someone just need to check a box on the app store config or similar? It looks like https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/configuring-a-multiplatform-app-target#Configure-the-supported-destinations-for-a-target is (mostly?) done...

Hey there so the tradeoff with this is if we enable it the Mac app will essentially show the iPad version. It will have some quirks especially if you try to do anything beyond read an article. We don't have capacity right now to address the quirks which is why it historically wasn't turned on @Reedy

@JTannerWMF If I may ask: how big and what kind of quirks would be there?
I totally understand the challenges—just wanted to mention that it would be so awesome to have a Wikipedia app on macOS!

What's wrong with your web browser on the mac...

I think there is nothing wrong with the web interface—an app on macOS would just provide more functionality (e.g. clickable widgets) and a better UX (e.g. for the Explore and Places pages).