Messages on the Mac may finally catch up to its iOS counterpart

An overhauled macOS app would share features with its mobile equivalents.

The Messages app on the Mac has lagged behind its iOS equivalent for a long time — it’s good for answering text messages without reaching for your iPhone, but many of the features and effects are missing. It might catch up this year, though. The 9to5Mac team has discovered hints of an overhauled Messages app for macOS in leaked iOS 14 code. The new software is reportedly a Catalyst-based app that will effectively mirror what you see in the iOS and iPadOS versions. You could chat with someone on their iPhone without worrying that you’ll miss part of the conversation, even if it’s just a fanciful sticker.

There aren’t definitive clues as to when this Messages revamp would arrive, although history suggests it’ll be unveiled alongside the next version of macOS at WWDC in June, with the finished software reaching users in the fall.

This could also hint at a more substantial rethink of macOS. To date, Catalyst apps in macOS have been non-essential apps like Podcasts, Stocks and Voice Memos. Messages is considerably more important, and hints that Apple may be willing to use Catalyst to redo other macOS apps that could benefit from parity with their mobile equivalents.