macOS

macOS is built on a Unix foundation (Darwin), so the terminal, shell scripts and most developer tools behave much as they do on Linux servers. Since 2020 Macs have used Apple's own ARM-based chips (Apple silicon); new macOS releases no longer run on Intel Macs, and Rosetta 2, which translates older Intel apps, is being phased out. Native apps use Swift with SwiftUI or AppKit, and Electron, Tauri and Flutter also build for it.

Apps are sold through the Mac App Store, where they run in a sandbox, or downloaded directly, in which case they must be signed with a Developer ID and notarised by Apple or Gatekeeper blocks them. Xcode, and with it every iPhone and iPad build, runs only on macOS, which is why mobile teams need at least one Mac or a cloud Mac service. A new version arrives every autumn as a free update.