When Catalyst arrived for the Mac, the promise was that it would be a way for our iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps to work together in perfect harmony, without missing a beat when switching devices. That hasn’t actually been the case, but a new feature rolling our to developers could help change things.
As it stands, the Mac and iOS app stores are still wholly separate entities, so if you buy an app on one device, you’ll need to purchase it again on the other. It’s a frustrating limitation for both developers and consumers, and now Apple is working on a fix. In the Xcode 11.4 beta, developer Steve Troughton-Smith spotted a new feature called universal purchase, and it works exactly as you’d expect: when you buy an app on your iPhone, the companion app will be available for download on your Mac, free of charge.
