In brief: Apple's big Mac announcement event is set to take place in just a few short hours, but we have some interesting (and slightly disappointing) news to chew on until then. According to a new report, though Apple's new Silicon-based Macs will technically be able to run any iOS app, some major developers are opting out of offering their software on the devices.
To be more specific, as 9to5Mac reports, both Google and Facebook are actively choosing not to offer "most" of their iOS apps to Mac customers. This means apps like Google Drive, Gmail, Maps, WhatsApp, and Messenger will all be missing.
Obviously, this isn't the end of the world for Mac users – most of these services have web versions that work even better than their mobile counterparts. However, there's something to be said for the convenience and ease of use that mobile apps can offer, and running locally-installed software tends to give users a greater sense of control.
Other non-Google and Facebook-owned iOS apps that won't be making the jump to Silicon Macs include the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and, even popular games like Candy Crush and Among Us.
This news might come as a disappointment to those who were excited by Apple's previous announcement that iOS apps could run on its upcoming notebooks, but at the end of the day, third-party developers are ultimately the only ones who can decide how they want their apps to be distributed.
If they feel offering iOS apps on Macs would hinder the end user's experience in some way, or create stability issues, they will simply opt-out of doing so, just as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others have done here.
There is still room for hope, though. The serving of iOS apps via the Mac App Store is new territory for Apple and the Mac userbase, so it's possible that third-party developers simply want to wait and see how things work out before they fully commit to this idea. In other words, Google and Facebook's iOS apps might still arrive on Mac, but it could take a while.