Apple must like Microsoft's "universal apps" approach, because it's apparently doing the same thing.

The company might finally begin to merge iOS and MacOS apps sometime next year by allowing developers create a single app that will run across both operating systems, according to Bloomberg. Apple will reportedly let developers create apps that can auto-adjust, if you will, to the platform they’re running on - and that includes supporting touch input on an iOS device and a trackpad input on a Mac.

Microsoft has been working on the same thing for the past few years, with its Universal Windows Platform initiative, in which it allows developers to create apps that run across Windows desktops, Windows hybrid devices, Windows phones, the Xbox, HoloLens, and the Surface Hub. Even Google has gone down this path in the past year, allowing full-fledged Android apps to run on Chrome OS devices.

Bloomberg emphasised that things could change, but if not, expect to see Apple's universal apps by next year. They might even be announced in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. If so, they'd likely start arriving next autumn alongside new versions of iOS and MacOS.