Is it possible to have both an iOS app and Mac app in the same project?

Question

As the title says, I'm wondering if it's possible and reasonable to have both an iOS app and Mac app in the same project. That is, an Xcode project that has a Mac app target, and an iOS target.

If so, what should I watch out for, and is this even a good idea.

A little context: I'm working on a client app for a web-service, that will share a lot of the API connection (model-layer) code between the iOS and Mac platforms.

Answer 1

It's quite straightforward to do this. Make sure you have the build setting "Base SDK" set appropriately for each target.

You can also add SDK-specific build settings by clicking the little (+) symbol next to a build setting:

and then you can create appropriate Xcode schemes to build everything at once.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible to have an iOS App and a Mac App under the same Xcode project.

Managing builds and settings will be easier if both Apps are in a different project.

But at the same time, it will be a lot easier to maintain and debug code, if both them are under the same project. For eg. when making changes to common API, it is faster if both apps compile under the same project to ensure that both Apps accept the common changes.