See just how amazing macOS would look on iPad

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Check this simulation of macOS on iPad created with SwiftUI.
macOS on iPad is a dream of many people. A developer created a glimpse of that possibility.
Photo: Jordan Singer

There’s pent up demand for Apple to bring macOS to iPad, so a clever developer created a simulation in SwiftUI to show what it would look like.

While it appears much like an Apple tablet running the Mac operating system, and even seems to work, this is not macOS Big Sur on an iPad. It’s just something that mimics part of the user interface. Still, it shows those eager for a “MacPad” what one could look like.

Watch a video of the macOS simulation in action:

This is the brainchild of Jordan Singer. He took multiple screenshots to give people a real sense of an iPad running Big Sur.

Again, Singer did not port the Mac operating system to iPad. He used SwiftUI to make an iPad application with a user interface that looks like macOS. It’s a well-made facade, not an operating system.

He posted the code on Github for any developer who’d like to test it for themselves.

macOS on iPad is possible

Just last week, Apple revealed that it’s phasing out Intel chips and will instead build future Macs around Apple Silicon — the same type of processors used by iPad and iPhone. This will force third-party software developers to port their code to the new platform, but also raises the possibility of bringing macOS apps to iPad.

People who want a computer as portable as an iPad but as powerful as a MacBook are clamoring for Apple to put macOS on a tablet. And that possibility was included in a recent rumor.

But there are hurdles to overcome. macOS and third-party software were designed to be used with a trackpad/mouse, and include tiny on-screen controls built for a cursor. Either Mac software would be reformatted for the touchscreen, or an iPad running macOS might require a stylus to be used whenever a mouse isn’t available.

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