Raycast is coming to the iPhone, but don’t expect a Mac-like experience

Raycast, the powerful launcher app for Mac, is officially in the works for iPhone (and Windows). The popular power user tool has been Mac-only since its debut, but the iPhone version is coming next year, and there’s a waitlist to join a beta sooner. Here’s what the company had to say about it.

Raycast for iOS launching in 2025, with beta waitlist open now

David Pierce at The Verge interviewed CEO and co-founder Thomas Paul Mann. Mann mentioned the Windows app will work largely like the Mac version, but the iOS app will be a bigger challenge.

“You want to be system-wide integrated,” Mann says, “but there aren’t many ways you can do that. You need to get a bit creative.” For now, he says the company is thinking of Raycast for iOS as more like a companion app than a fully-featured launcher, and he says the mobile app is likely to be more visual and more proactive rather than Raycast’s traditional all-purpose text box.

It’s no surprise that Raycast will look a lot different on the iPhone. The app’s greatest strength on macOS is its availability system-wide.

iOS apps unfortunately can’t provide the same level of deep system integration that Mac apps can. However, there are a variety of APIs and technologies the Raycast team can take advantage of to try offering similar tools.

Building in rich app intent and Shortcuts app integration, for example, along with some powerful widgets, could bring some of the expected Raycast power to the iPhone.

It sounds like the iOS app is still somewhat early in development. The expected launch window is 2025, but you can join a waitlist for the TestFlight now. According to the app’s website, invites will be going out for the beta throughout the remainder of 2024.

In any case, I’m interested to see what kind of Raycast experience can be offered on the iPhone. Hope there’s an iPad version on its way too.

Are you interested in Raycast for iPhone? What features would you hope to see? Let us know in the comments.