Installing iOS/ iPad applications in macOS m1

Question

I'm not sure what the rule is around installing apps for other Apple platforms (like iPhone / iPad) on macOS. Specifically, I would like to install the Lumi app shown here: https://apps.apple.com/app/lumi-music/id1481450834#?platform=ipad

I fully understand it may not be compatible, but then I do not understand how other iOS apps are allowed to run in some cases. For example, Spotify is another application which is not available from the store. The application is downloaded directly from their website instead and then installed as an iOS application.

So specifically then my questions are:

1. Is there an official channel to consume iOS / ipad apps that have not yet been given the Universal / Apple Silicon treatment?

2. If there is no official Apple vetted method, is there an appropriate 3rd party method? Perhaps iMazing as an emulator?

Thanks in advance, and apologies if the question seems basic. I've spent around an hour reading various forums before deciding to ask for help.

Answer 1

This can be a little tricky and MacRumors verified what I thought I had heard:

App developers can choose not to make their ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ apps available on ‌M1‌ Macs through the ‌Mac App Store‌

I'm pretty sure the Netflix app is this way, there are other examples.

Also some apps will just say "not verified for MacOS." Which I believe means use at your own risk. Meaning it might just not work real well.

Failing the official way of getting an iOS app on your M1 Mac you can use one of the 3rd party iOS backup apps (I use iMazing, there are others) that does back up the apps on your phone (like iTunes used to do, but does no longer) and allows you to then extract the iOS apps from the backup and try running them on your Mac.

This does not guarantee that the apps installed on a Mac this way will actually work or even launch but iMazing has a free trial period, so you can try it out and see if it does what you need with the apps that you want.