Steve Troughton-Smith on Mastodon:

"Are you merging iOS and macOS?" "…No! Of course not"

Yet seven years later it is incredibly clear that there is a point of convergence coming in the very near future where iPadOS and macOS look effectively identical and run basically the same apps — and at that point, why do you need two sets of everything? Yes, they both 'feel' different, and they draw different lines in the sand re capabilities (today). But that doesn't mean you truly need two operating systems

It really is striking how native iPad and Mac apps look exactly the same today (and doubly so in the OS 26 era coming this fall). I won't belabor the point, but if 15 years ago iPadOS and macOS were meant to be totally distinct platforms that handled UIs differently, things have changed radially since then. There's not even a question about it, iPad apps look and behave more like Mac apps than ever before, and native Mac apps look and behave more like iPad apps as well. If you're building an app using SwiftUI, which is what Apple very much thinks you should do, you truly have to be the world's best pixel-peeper to tell the difference between an app on the iPad and the same one on the Mac.