Jon Prosser: Xcode on iPad could pave the way for mobile 'Pro' apps

By Stephen Warwick
published

Xcode Hero
Xcode Hero (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Jon Prosser says that Xcode is present on iOS/iPadOS 14.
  • It would mean developers could make apps on mobile devices for the first time ever.
  • It could also pave the way for 'Pro' apps like Final Cut to come to iPad.

Jon Prosser says that Xcode is present on iOS/iPadOS 14, possibly paving the way for Pro applications on iPad.

In a tweet yesterday he said:

I'm not gonna say that Final Cut is coming to iPad...But XCode is present on iOS / iPad OS 14.The implications there are HUGE.Opens the door for "Pro" applications to come to iPad.I mentioned this last week on a live stream, but figured it was worth the tweet

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The implications of this are two-fold. Firstly, Xcode on iOS/iPadOS would allow developers to code apps on mobile devices for the first time ever, where previously they were only able to do so through Mac. Secondly, as Prosser, mentions, it could pave the way for some of Apple's 'Pro' applications, like Final Cut and Mainstage to come to iPadOS.

As our man Rene Ritchie notes, this would present a couple of issues. The first is RAM. Apple's 'Pro' apps are very resource-intensive and require a minimum of 8GB of RAM found in Apple's Mac lineup to run properly at present. For intensive sessions of Logic Pro, Mainstage or Final Cut Pro, even more than 8GB of RAM is usually needed. The second is functionality, just because you can make a desktop app available on mobile, doesn't mean you should. Rene notes the example of Adobe Photoshop, which is currently figuring out "what makes sense in terms of functionality and interactivity on the iPad." Whilst Apple could feasibly overcome the hardware issue so that Final Cut could run on iPad, would it be the best touch screen experience? Certainly, Apple Pencil and iPadOS trackpad support would go a long way to alleviating some of this.

It seems the more immediate impact of this rumor would be for developers who would no longer be bound to Mac when it comes to developing, which could well be a welcome improvement.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9

2 Comments
  • "Apple's 'Pro' apps are very resource-intensive and require a minimum of 8GB of RAM found in Apple's Mac lineup to run properly at present. For intensive sessions of Logic Pro, Mainstage or Final Cut Pro, even more than 8GB of RAM is usually needed." It really depends on your use case. Logic Pro X has a minimum requirement of 4GB of RAM, and I know someone in the music business who uses it very thoroughly on an 8GB MacBook Air without any issues. Final Cut Pro X also has a minimum of 4GB, with 8GB recommended for 4K video editing. I've been tempted to buy Final Cut Pro as I'd like to get into video editing again, and I'll be on an 8GB machine so we'll see how that goes (I'm pretty sure it'll be fine). Oh and by the way, this is talking about using the apps without 50 million Chrome tabs in the background. If you're using a heavy application, you shouldn't have other heavy applications open such as a web browser, or any Electron apps. Besides, these apps are have had a long lifespan, I don't think Apple has re-built them from the ground up for a long while (I could be wrong), and they'll probably have to do that for iOS. Rebuilding them could mean that they don't need to use as much RAM, plus it's important to remember that all our devices now use SSDs or flash storage, which can be used to store things instead of RAM, or if the RAM is full.
  • A comment on 9to5Mac really rings true here: "We’ve been compiling computer code on systems with way less power and
    memory for decades. Why is it so hard to imagine that a computing device
    with greater processing capabilities than those can’t do the job?" The idea that software has to become more bloated/slow as time goes on, is completely untrue.