Since the App Store only allows adding one native app, I want to disable my “Mac Catalyst” version app to enable its “Designed for iPad” version. How can I achieve this?
Transition from "Mac Catalyst" to "Designed for iPad"
We have the same issue.
We removed the platform in xcode and left the ipad for Mac platform. That new version has been available for some time in production. What we have noticed though is that we can still see the Catalyst version on our Macs and that the ipad tab to download apps does not show our app. We believe this could be because we previously have downloaded the Catalyst app. We hope at least new users do not see our app in the Mac section but instead have the option of downloading it from the ipad tab on their Macs. We developed the catalyst app before even knowing the ipad version would become available on Macs with the right CPU.
Apple please advice us on how we do this transition. Or at least give people a choice of selecting the ipad version on their Macs so previous users are not stuck with the older unsupported versions of the catalyst app.
Same issue here.
Related post here: Mac Catalyst Discovery Issue
Thanks for the post, this is a common question lately.
I believe the intended path is for developers to continue updating and refining the Mac Catalyst version. Since Mac Catalyst is a native macOS app, you have access to Mac-specific frameworks and UI paradigms that are not available to a "Designed for iPad" app running in the macOS compatibility layer.
If you absolutely must use the "Designed for iPad" version instead of Catalyst, you would have to create a brand-new app record in App Store Connect with a new Bundle ID.
This is the information to add a new app into the App Store https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-an-app-record/add-a-new-app
"Designed for iPad" is the baseline compatibility mode for Apple Silicon Macs, while Mac Catalyst allows you to add native macOS features, menus, and behaviors.
From a codebase perspective, the migration is incredibly simple because both versions run off your exact same iPad codebase.
Open your project in Xcode. Select your target and go to the General tab. Under Supported Destinations, select your Mac Catalyst destination and click the minus (-) button to remove it. Click the plus (+) button and add Mac (Designed for iPad). Build and run. Your app will now run in the exact same windowing environment as it does on an iPad.
Albert Worldwide Developer Relations.