Apple Highlights Popular Apps Optimized for M1 Macs

Apple recently shared a list of popular apps optimized for Macs with the M1 chip that are available in the Mac App Store, such as Pixelmator Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Designer, Darkroom, Fantastical, BBEdit, Instapaper, and Twitter.

apple banner apps optimized for m1 chip
"Macs with the new Apple M1 chip offer unprecedented performance, and developers can optimize their apps for the M1 to deliver game-changing speed and capabilities," says Apple. "Get started with these apps that take full advantage of the power of M1."

MacRumors also has a crowdsourced list of apps that run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, including apps available outside of the Mac App Store.

At WWDC 2020 in June, Apple revealed its plans to begin using its own custom Apple Silicon processors in Macs, starting with the M1 chip. Apple said that its transition away from Intel processors in Macs would take around two years to be completed, with future Apple Silicon Macs rumored to include redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, a 24-inch iMac, a smaller version of the Mac Pro, and more.

Last month, Apple released its first Macs with the M1 chip, including a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, and benchmarks confirmed that the chip delivers industry-leading performance per watt. Apple's custom silicon is so impressive that the base model MacBook Air outperforms a maxed-out Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.1 With Apple Intelligence: New Features, Release Date, and More

Thursday October 10, 2024 8:26 am PDT by
iOS 18.1 will be released to the public in the coming weeks, and the software update introduces the first Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone. Below, we outline when to expect iOS 18.1 to be released. iOS 18.1: Apple Intelligence Features Here are some of the key Apple Intelligence features in the iOS 18.1 beta so far: A few Siri enhancements, including improved understanding...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Tuesday October 8, 2024 5:45 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
space black mbp

Apple Potentially Facing Worst Leak Since iPhone 4 Was Left in a Bar

Monday October 7, 2024 3:03 pm PDT by
Alleged photos and videos of an unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip continue to surface on social media, in what could be the worst product leak for Apple since an employee accidentally left an iPhone 4 prototype at a bar in California in 2010. The latest video of what could be a next-generation MacBook Pro was shared on YouTube Shorts today by Russian channel Romancev768, just...
iPad mini review thumb

iPad Mini 7 Coming Next Month: What to Expect

Tuesday October 8, 2024 6:16 am PDT by
Rumors strongly suggest Apple will release the seventh-generation iPad mini in November, nearly three years after the last refresh. Here's a roundup of what we're expecting from the next version of Apple's small form factor tablet, based on the latest rumors and reports. Design and Display The new iPad mini is likely to retain its compact 8.3-inch display and overall design introduced with...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

Waiting for a New Apple TV? Here's What the Latest Rumors Say

Tuesday October 8, 2024 8:57 am PDT by
The current Apple TV was released two years ago this month, so you may be wondering when the next model will be released. Below, we recap rumors about a next-generation Apple TV. In January 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that a new Apple TV was planned for release in the first half of 2024:Beyond the future smart displays and new speaker, Apple is working on revamping its TV box....
When Will Apple Launch More M4 Macs Feature

Will Apple Release M4 Macs Soon? Here's What the Latest Rumors Say

Thursday October 10, 2024 6:22 am PDT by
Apple often releases new Macs in the fall, but we are still waiting for official confirmation that the company has similar plans this year. We're approaching the middle of October now, and if Apple plans to announce new Macs before the holidays, recent history suggests it will happen this month. Here's what we know so far. As of writing this, it's been 220 days since Apple released a new...

Top Rated Comments

TantalizedMind Avatar
50 months ago

The more apps that get updated the better.
The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
omenatarhuri Avatar
50 months ago

Cool. You're a developer yourself?
Yep. ?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
omenatarhuri Avatar
50 months ago
For most apps it’s ridiculously easy. Just recompile and that’s it. Apple has done a phenomenal job with this CPU transition. ?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
omenatarhuri Avatar
50 months ago

Not a programmer, but is there a difference between an app that was Intel and "just recompiled" and one that was written for M1 explicitly? Would the latter perform even better?
Depends on what you're developing. Lots of apps get written at a higher abstraction level where you are defining what the app looks like and what it does (the conditional business logic). It's not all too common that you would really need to write anything that is so close to the hardware where you'd do something differently based on the CPU architecture (how the machine should do what you want it to do).

Apps that would do that would be those where getting peak performance is critical, apps like games or some heavy-duty video editing I suppose or the likes. But I'd be surprised if there's anything like that in some of the apps on the list e.g. in Twitter, BBEdit or Fantastical.

Please note that I'm not contradicting what is said up there, these apps are now "optimised for M1". The fact that it can be done simply by recompiling is great and makes many devs life easy.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SirAnthonyHopkins Avatar
50 months ago

The more apps that get updated the better.
Interesting perspective, tell me more.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ct2k7 Avatar
50 months ago
The more apps that get updated the better.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)