We experimented with macOS on the iPad, and it was surprisingly good

Apple executives Greg Joswiak and Craig Federighi have made it well known that the company has little interest in getting the iPad prepared for macOS software. During an event following Apple’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Federighi said, “We want to keep making iPad the best iPad it can be. We are not trying to create a Windows 8 PC or whatever.” But that hasn’t stopped Apple users from craving something more out of their iPads.

Across our articles, videos, and podcasts, we see comments asking about what it would take to get macOS on their devices or asking for predictions of the day Apple will change its mind. So, we decided to try to find the answer.

In this latest video from The Verge, video director Owen Grove tries to solve why Apple doesn’t merge its devices. Does it have to do with hardware? Software? Business? Owen tries using the iPad Pro while mirroring macOS as his solo work device to see how it fares and talks to experts, including AltStore and Delta developer Riley Testut and The Verge’s Nilay Patel, to get their takes on Apple’s business.

The final answer isn’t quite what you think it might be. Watch the full episode on YouTube and let us know which big tech question we should tackle next!