If you’re an iPhone or iPad app developer, you know that running your apps on a Mac is a great way to increase user engagement and improve your bottom line. In this article, we’ll show you how to run iPhone and iPad apps on a Mac using Xcode and the App Store Developer Portal. If you’re new to developing for the iPhone or iPad, we recommend reading our beginner’s guide first. Once you have some experience under your belt, read on to learn how to run an app on a Mac using Xcode and the App Store Developer Portal. Setting Up Your Development Environment Before you can start developing for the iPhone or iPad, you’ll need to set up your development environment. This includes installing Xcode and the App Store Developer Portal. You can find instructions for installing Xcode here: https://developer.apple.com/xcode/. Once you have Xcode installed, follow these steps to set up your development environment:
- Open Xcode and create a new project by clicking File > New Project… or selecting New > Project from the main menu bar. Select iOS from the Platform drop-down list and click Next.
- Enter a name for your project (e.g., MyApp), select Single View Application as the type of project, and click Next. You will now be prompted to choose a template for your project: Clicking Use Core Data will give you access to some of Apple’s powerful data management features; however, it is not required in order to develop apps for the iPhone or iPad. If you decide that this is something that interests you, be sure to read our guide on setting up Core Data before continuing: https://www2.zdnetasia.com/article/how-to-set-up-core-data-in-your-iphoneapp/. For now ..
Before you can run an iPhone or iPad app on your Mac or MacBook, you’ll first need to download it from Apple’s App Store.
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Start by clicking on the Launchpad icon found on your computer’s dock.
Next, click on the “App Store” button. If you can’t find it, use the search bar found at the top of the bat to locate the app.
Alternatively, you can use Apple’s built-in Spotlight search to open the app. The easiest way to do this is by pressing Cmd+Space Bar on your keyboard. The search dialog will appear in the center of your screen. Type in “App Store” and select the first entry.
You can now enter the iPhone or iPad app’s name into the search bar found in the top-left corner of the window.
You won’t immediately see the app you’re looking for—this is because the App Store defaults to only showing Mac apps. Click on the “iPhone & iPad Apps” listing to switch views.
If the iPhone or iPad app developer elected to have their mobile app available on Mac, you will now see it on the results page.
Click the “Get” or Download button (which looks like a cloud icon) to start the download process.
Once the iPhone or iPad app is installed on your Mac, select the “Open” button. The app will open in its own window and run like any other application developed for your Mac.
Later, after you’ve closed the App Store, you can open and run the iPhone or iPad app on your Mac by finding it in the Launchpad or by using Spotlight search, as we did above.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there are no Macs with touchscreens. You will have to interact with any apps or games you download with your trackpad, mouse, or keyboard.
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