# Metal (API)

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Metal_(API)
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Metal_(API).md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_(API)
> Source revision: 1356402570
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

iOS, macOS, and tvOS graphics rendering API

Not to be confused with the MeTaL API by [S3 Graphics](/source/S3_Graphics).

Metal Apple used the mobile multiplayer online battle arena game Vainglory to demonstrate Metal's graphics capabilities at the iPhone 6's September 2014 announcement event.[1] Developer Apple Inc. Release June 2014; 12 years ago (2014-06) Stable release 4 / June 2025; 1 year ago (2025-06) Written in Metal Shading Language (C++14-based in Metal 1–3, C++17-based in Metal 4), Metal GPU Drivers: C/C++[2][3], Metal Runtime: Objective-C, C/C++, Metal API: Objective-C, Swift, C++ (binding via metal-cpp) Operating system iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS and visionOS Type 3D graphics and compute API License Proprietary Website developer.apple.com/metal/

**Metal** is a low-level, low-overhead [hardware-accelerated](/source/Hardware_acceleration) [3D graphic](/source/3D_graphic) and [compute shader](/source/Compute_shader) [API](/source/API) created by [Apple](/source/Apple_Inc.), debuting in [iOS 8](/source/IOS_8). Metal combines functions similar to [OpenGL](/source/OpenGL) and [OpenCL](/source/OpenCL) in one API. It is intended to improve performance by offering low-level access to the GPU hardware for apps on [iOS](/source/IOS), [iPadOS](/source/IPadOS), [macOS](/source/MacOS), [tvOS](/source/TvOS) and [visionOS](/source/VisionOS) (though not [watchOS](/source/WatchOS)). It is similar to low-level APIs on other [platforms](/source/Computing_platform) such as [Vulkan](/source/Vulkan_(API)) and [DirectX 12](/source/DirectX_12).

Metal is an [object-oriented](/source/Object-oriented_programming) API that can be invoked using the [Swift](/source/Swift_(programming_language)), [Objective-C](/source/Objective-C) or [C++17](/source/C%2B%2B17)[4] [programming languages](/source/Programming_language). Full-blown GPU execution is controlled via the Metal Shading Language.[5]

## Features

Metal aims to provide low-overhead access to the GPU. Commands are encoded beforehand and then submitted to the GPU for asynchronous execution. The application controls when to wait for the execution to complete thus allowing application developers to increase throughput by encoding other commands while commands are executed on the GPU or save power by explicitly waiting for GPU execution to complete. Additionally, command encoding is CPU independent thus applications can encode commands to each CPU thread independently. Lastly, render states are pre-computed beforehand, allowing the GPU driver to know in advance how to configure and optimize the render pipeline before command execution.[6]

Metal improves the capabilities of [GPGPU](/source/GPGPU) programming by using [compute shaders](/source/Compute_kernel). Metal uses a specific [shading language](/source/Shading_language) based on [C++14](/source/C%2B%2B14), implemented using [Clang](/source/Clang) and [LLVM](/source/LLVM).[7]

Metal allows application developers to create Metal resources such as buffers, textures. Resources can be allocated on the CPU, GPU, or both and provides facilities to update and synchronize allocated resources. Metal can also enforce a resource's state during a command encoder's lifetime.[8][9]

On macOS, Metal can provide application developers the discretion to specify which GPU to execute. Application developers can choose between the low-power integrated GPU of the CPU, the discrete GPU (on certain MacBooks and Macs) or an external GPU connected through Thunderbolt. Application developers also have the preference on how GPU commands are executed on which GPUs and provides suggestion on which GPU a certain command is most efficient to execute (commands to render a scene can be executed by the discrete GPU while post-processing and display can be handled by the integrated GPU).[10]

### Metal Performance Shaders

Metal Performance Shaders is a highly optimized library of graphics functions that can help application developers achieve great performance at the same time decrease work on maintaining GPU family specific functions.[11] It provides functions including:

- Image filtering algorithms

- Neural network processing

- Advanced math operations

- Ray tracing

## History

Metal has been available since June 2, 2014 on [iOS devices](/source/List_of_iOS_devices) powered by [Apple A7](/source/Apple_A7) or later,[12] and since June 8, 2015 on [Macs](/source/Macintosh) (2012 models or later) running [OS X El Capitan](/source/OS_X_El_Capitan).[13]

On June 5, 2017, at [WWDC](/source/WWDC), Apple announced the second version of Metal, to be supported by [macOS High Sierra](/source/MacOS_High_Sierra), [iOS 11](/source/IOS_11) and [tvOS 11](/source/TvOS_11). Metal 2 is not a separate API from Metal and is supported by the same hardware. Metal 2 enables more efficient [profiling](/source/Profiling_(computer_programming)) and [debugging](/source/Debugging) in [Xcode](/source/Xcode), accelerated [machine learning](/source/Machine_learning), lower [CPU](/source/CPU) workload, support for [virtual reality](/source/Virtual_reality) on macOS, and specificities of the [Apple A11](/source/Apple_A11) GPU, in particular.[14]

At the 2020 [WWDC](/source/WWDC), Apple announced the migration of the Mac to [Apple silicon](/source/Apple_silicon). Macs using Apple silicon will feature Apple GPUs with a feature set combining what was previously available on macOS and iOS, and will be able to take advantage of features tailored to the [tile based deferred rendering](/source/Tile_based_deferred_rendering) (TBDR) architecture of Apple GPUs.[15]

At the 2022 [WWDC](/source/WWDC), Apple announced the third version of Metal (Metal 3), which would debut with the release of [macOS Ventura](/source/MacOS_Ventura), [iOS 16](/source/IOS_16) and [iPadOS 16](/source/IPadOS_16). Metal 3 introduces the MetalFX upscaling framework, which renders complex scenes in less time per frame with high-performance upscaling and anti-aliasing, mesh shaders support.[16] Also announced possibility to use C/C++ for Metal API.[17]

At the 2023 [WWDC](/source/WWDC), Apple announced a brand new toolkit called the Game Porting Toolkit to port Windows 10/11-based games. It includes an environment to test binaries, translation layers from HLSL to MSL, and Metal-cpp bindings. Jeremy Sandmel announced a new Game Mode for [macOS Sonoma](/source/MacOS_Sonoma), and [Hideo Kojima](/source/Hideo_Kojima) announced *[Death Stranding](/source/Death_Stranding)* for the macOS App Store.[18]

At the 2024 [WWDC](/source/WWDC), Apple announced Game Porting Toolkit 2, along with the release of new games such as *[Control: Ultimate Edition](/source/Control%3A_Ultimate_Edition)*, *[Frostpunk 2](/source/Frostpunk_2)*, and *[Assassin's Creed Shadows](/source/Assassin's_Creed_Shadows)* for macOS.[19]

At the 2025 [WWDC](/source/WWDC), Apple announced Metal 4, a new version of the API featuring a unified command encoder system, support for neural rendering, and new technologies such as MetalFX Frame Interpolation and a ray tracing denoiser.[20]

## Supported GPUs

The first version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:[21]

- [Apple A7](/source/Apple_A7) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [iOS 8](/source/IOS_8) or later

- [Apple M1](/source/Apple_M1) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [macOS 11](/source/MacOS_Big_Sur) or later

- Intel Processor with [Intel HD and Iris Graphics](/source/Intel_HD_and_Iris_Graphics) Ivy Bridge series or later with [OS X 10.11](/source/OS_X_El_Capitan) or later

- AMD Graphics with [GCN](/source/Graphics_Core_Next) or [RDNA](/source/RDNA_(microarchitecture)) architecture with [OS X 10.11](/source/OS_X_El_Capitan) or later

- NVIDIA Graphics with [Kepler](/source/Kepler_(microarchitecture)) architecture with [OS X 10.11](/source/OS_X_El_Capitan) to [macOS 11](/source/MacOS_Big_Sur) operating system

- NVIDIA Graphics with [Maxwell](/source/Maxwell_(microarchitecture)) architecture or [Pascal](/source/Pascal_(microarchitecture)) architecture with [OS X 10.11](/source/OS_X_El_Capitan) to [macOS 10.13](/source/MacOS_High_Sierra) operating system

The second version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:

- [Apple A7](/source/Apple_A7) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [iOS 11](/source/IOS_11) or later

- [Apple M1](/source/Apple_M1) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [macOS 11](/source/MacOS_Big_Sur) or later

- Intel Processor with [Intel HD and Iris Graphics](/source/Intel_HD_and_Iris_Graphics) Skylake series or later with [macOS 10.13](/source/MacOS_High_Sierra) or later

- AMD Graphics with [GCN](/source/Graphics_Core_Next) or [RDNA](/source/RDNA_(microarchitecture)) architecture with [macOS 10.13](/source/MacOS_High_Sierra) or later

The third version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:[22]

- [Apple A13](/source/Apple_A13) or later with [iOS 16](/source/IOS_16), [iPadOS 16](/source/IPadOS_16)[23]

- [Apple A14](/source/Apple_A14) or later with [iOS 16](/source/IOS_16), [iPadOS 16](/source/IPadOS_16) or later

- [Apple M1](/source/Apple_M1) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [iPadOS 16](/source/IPadOS_16) or later

- [Apple M1](/source/Apple_M1) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [macOS 13](/source/MacOS_Ventura) or later

- Intel Processor with [Intel](/source/Intel_HD_and_Iris_Graphics) UHD 630 or Iris Plus (Kaby Lake or later) with [macOS 13](/source/MacOS_Ventura) or later

- AMD Graphics with [RDNA](/source/RDNA_(microarchitecture)) architecture (5000 and 6000 series) and Pro Vega (5th generation [GCN](/source/Graphics_Core_Next) architecture)

The fourth version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:

- [Apple A14](/source/Apple_A14) or later with [iOS 26](/source/IOS_26), [iPadOS 26](/source/IPadOS_26) or later

- [Apple M1](/source/Apple_M1) [SoC](/source/System_on_chip) or later with [iPadOS 26](/source/IPadOS_26), [macOS 26](/source/MacOS_Tahoe) or later

## Adoption

According to Apple, more than 148,000 applications use Metal directly, and 1.7 million use it through high-level [frameworks](/source/Application_framework), as of June 2017.[24] macOS games using Metal for [rendering](/source/Rendering_(computer_graphics)) are listed below.

Title Developer (macOS version) Game engine MacOS release date (OpenGL/DirectX) Metal-based release date Metal support notes Ark: Survival Evolved Studio Wildcard Unreal Engine 4 29 August 2017 Assassin's Creed Shadows Ubisoft Quebec Ubisoft Anvil 20 March 2025 ARMA 3 Virtual Programming Real Virtuality 31 August 2015 Metal support in beta since 17 September 2017[citation needed] Baldur's Gate III Larian Studios Divinity Engine 4.0 22 September 2023 Metal support in early access since 6 October 2020[citation needed] Ballistic Overkill Aquiris Game Studio Unity Engine 5 28 March 2017 Batman: Arkham City Feral Interactive Unreal Engine 3 18 October 2013 Metal support since 21 February 2019 with v1.2[citation needed] Batman: The Enemy Within Telltale Games Telltale Tool 8 August 2017 BattleTech Harebrained Schemes Unity Engine 5 24 April 2018 Bioshock Remastered Feral Interactive Unreal Engine 2.5 22 August 2017 Bioshock 2 Remastered Feral Interactive Unreal Engine 2.5 22 October 2020 Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt REDengine 4 17 July 2025 Support for Metal 4 Cities: Skylines Paradox Interactive Unity Engine 5 10 March 2015 Metal support since 18 May 2017[citation needed] Civilization VI Aspyr Media LORE 24 October 2016 Metal support since 5 April 2019[citation needed] Company of Heroes 2 Feral Interactive Essence Engine 3 21 January 2015 Metal support since 19 October 2018[citation needed] Control: Ultimate Edition Remedy Entertainment Northlight Engine 26 March 2025 Dead Island 2 Dambuster Studios Unreal Engine 4 24 July 2025 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Feral Interactive Dawn Engine 12 December 2017 DiRT Rally Feral Interactive EGO Engine 2.5 16 November 2017 Divinity: Original Sin II Larian Studios Divinity Engine 2 31 January 2019 Dota 2 Valve Source 2 18 July 2013 MoltenVK was announced on 26 February 2018.[25] The option to use this became available on 31 May 2018.[26] The Elder Scrolls Online Zenimax Online Studios N/A 4 April 2014 22 October 2018 OpenGL Renderer replaced with Vulkan via MoltenVK wrapper (translates Vulkan API calls to Metal) in patch 4.2.5 Empire: Total War Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 4 March 2009 Metal support since 16 December 2019[citation needed] EVE Online CCP Games N/A 6 November 2007 14 October 2021 Previously available on macOS via DirectX 9.0 from November 2007 until February 2009; native macOS version using Metal released 14 November 2021[citation needed] Everspace Rockfish Unreal Engine 4 26 May 2017 F1 2016 Feral Interactive EGO Engine 4.0 6 April 2017 F1 2017 Feral Interactive EGO Engine 4.0 25 August 2017 Fortnite Epic Games Unreal Engine 4 25 July 2017 Frostpunk 11 Bit Studios Liquid Engine 24 February 2021 Frostpunk 2 11 Bit Studios Unreal Engine 5 20 September 2024 Gravel Virtual Programming Unreal Engine 4 20 January 2019 Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series Telltale Games Telltale Tool 18 April 2017 Headlander Double Fine Productions Buddha Engine 18 November 2016 Heroes of the Storm Blizzard Entertainment SC2 Engine 2 June 2015 Metal support in beta since 24 January 2017 (temporarily removed on 29 November 2017[27] until ?)[citation needed] Hitman Feral Interactive Glacier 2 20 June 2017 Hollow Knight Team Cherry Unity Engine[28] 11 April 2017 Hollow Knight: Silksong Team Cherry Unity Engine[28] 4 September 2025[29] Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Feral Interactive Unity Engine 13 September 2018 Life Is Strange 2 Feral Interactive Unreal Engine 4 2019 Mafia III Aspyr Media Illusion Engine 11 May 2017 Medieval II: Total War Feral Interactive TW Engine 2 17 December 2015 Metal support since 25 October 2018[citation needed] Micro Machines World Series Virtual Programming Unity Engine 5 30 June 2017 Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two Telltale Games Telltale Tool 11 July 2017 MXGP3 Virtual Programming Unreal Engine 4 23 November 2018 Napoleon: Total War Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 2 July 2013 Metal support since 25 October 2019 with v1.2[citation needed] Obduction Cyan Worlds Unreal Engine 4 29 March 2017 Observer Bloober Team Unreal Engine 4 24 October 2017 Quake II id Software Quake II engine 9 February 2019 A port using MoltenVK was released as vkQuake2.[30] Refunct Dominique Grieshofer Unreal Engine 4 5 September 2016 Resident Evil 2 Capcom RE Engine 10 December 2024 Resident Evil 3 Capcom RE Engine 18 March 2025 Resident Evil 4 Capcom RE Engine 20 December 2023 Resident Evil Village Capcom RE Engine 28 October 2022 First macOS game with MetalFX support Rise of the Tomb Raider Feral Interactive Foundation Engine 12 April 2018 Shadow of the Tomb Raider Feral Interactive Foundation Engine 2019 Sid Meier's Railroads! Feral Interactive Gamebryo 1 November 2012 Metal support since 18 December 2018[citation needed] The Sims 3 Maxis Redwood Shores The Sims 3 Engine 2 June 2009 28 October 2020 The Sims 4 Maxis SmartSim 17 February 2015 Metal support added 12 November 2019[citation needed] Sky: Children of the Light Thatgamecompany N/A 18 July 2019 Native Metal support added since pre-global live in November 2017 Starcraft Blizzard Entertainment Modified Warcraft II engine 20 November 2001 Metal support since 2 July 2020 with v1.23.5[citation needed] StarCraft II Blizzard Entertainment SC2 Engine 27 July 2010 Metal support in beta since 24 January 2017[citation needed] Tomb Raider Feral Interactive Foundation Engine 17 January 2014 Metal support with v1.2 in July 2019[citation needed] Total War: Rome Remastered Feral Interactive TW Engine 2 29 April 2021 Total War: Shogun 2 Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 31 July 2014 Metal support since 4 October 2019[citation needed] Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 18 December 2014 Metal support since 4 October 2019[citation needed] Total War: Three Kingdoms Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 23 May 2019 Total War: Warhammer Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 19 April 2017 Total War: Warhammer II Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 20 November 2018 Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 24 May 2018 Total War Saga: Troy Feral Interactive TW Engine 3 13 August 2020 Transport Fever 2 Urban Games N/A 23 February 2021[31] Metal support using MoltenVK[32] and OpenGL[31] Universe Sandbox Giant Army Unity Engine 5 TBA Metal support in beta since June 2017[citation needed] Unreal Tournament Epic Games Unreal Engine 4 Cancelled Metal support since January 2017[citation needed] War Thunder Gaijin Entertainment Dagor Engine 4 1 November 2012 Metal support added 24 May 2017 (removed in ? 2018 and reintroduced 27 August 2020)[citation needed] Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III Feral Interactive Essence Engine 4 9 June 2017 The Witness Thekla, Inc Thekla Engine 8 March 2017 World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment WoW Engine 23 November 2004 Metal support since August 2016[citation needed] X-Plane 11 Laminar Research N/A 30 May 2017 Metal support in beta since 2 April 2020[33]

## See also

- [Direct3D](/source/Direct3D) – [DirectX 12](/source/DirectX#DirectX_12) introduces low-level APIs.

- [Mantle](/source/Mantle_(API)) – low-level API by [AMD](/source/AMD)

- [Vulkan](/source/Vulkan_(API)) – low-overhead successor to OpenGL

- [MoltenVK](/source/MoltenVK) - software compatibility library to run Vulkan software on top of the Metal API

- [WebGPU](/source/WebGPU)

- [OpenGL](/source/OpenGL) - cross-platform graphics API

## References

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1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Bring your Metal app to Apple Silicon Macs"](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2020/10631). *developer.apple.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210103045836/https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2020/10631) from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["Discover Metal 3"](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022/10066). *developer.apple.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220613092735/https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022/10066/) from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.

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1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["WWDC 2023 - Game Porting Toolkit and Metal updates"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYkq9Rgoj8E&t=5057s). *YouTube*. June 5, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["WWDC 2024 - Game Porting Toolkit 2 and more"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXeOiIDNNek&t=3821s). *YouTube*. June 10, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** ["WWDC 2025 - Metal 4 Announcement"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_DjDdfqtUE&t=3908s). *YouTube*. June 9, 2025. Retrieved July 25, 2025.

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1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** Larabel, Michael (June 1, 2018). ["Initial Vulkan Performance On macOS With Dota 2 Is Looking Very Good"](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dota-2-Initial-Mac-Vulkan). Phoronix. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220207233307/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dota-2-Initial-Mac-Vulkan) from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2018.

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1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_28-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_28-1) ["Hollow Knight - An Adventure Game | Made with Unity"](https://unity.com/made-with-unity/hollow-knight). *Unity*. Retrieved May 11, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** ["Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam"](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1030300/Hollow_Knight_Silksong/). *store.steampowered.com*. Retrieved May 11, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** Kondrak, Krzysztof [@k_kondrak] (February 9, 2019). ["vkQuake2 gets MacOS support"](https://twitter.com/k_kondrak/status/1094192063292297217) ([Tweet](/source/Tweet_(social_media))). Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via [Twitter](/source/Twitter).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_31-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_31-1) ["Transport Fever 2 - Transport Fever 2 receives Mac and Vulkan support - Steam News"](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1066780/view/3032582120293923188). *store.steampowered.com*. February 23, 2021. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210225170045/https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1066780/view/3032582120293923188) from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** ["Depot 1066783 (Transport Fever 2 Mac)"](https://steamdb.info/depot/1066783/). *SteamDB*. Retrieved February 12, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** ["X-Plane 11.50 Public Beta 1: Vulkan and Metal Are Here"](https://developer.x-plane.com/2020/04/x-plane-11-50-public-beta-1-vulkan-and-metal-are-here/). *X-Plane Developer*. April 2, 2020. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200403081308/https://developer.x-plane.com/2020/04/x-plane-11-50-public-beta-1-vulkan-and-metal-are-here/) from the original on April 3, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

## External links

- [Metal for Developers](https://developer.apple.com/metal/)

- [Metal Programming Guide](https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/Miscellaneous/Conceptual/MetalProgrammingGuide/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014221) (preliminary)

- [WWDC14 demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRoGwuSDh3E); [extended version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br7qVnzxzv8#t=1013)

- [Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012)](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898) - Apple article explaining what GPUs are compatible with Apple's Metal APIs on Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) operating system

v t e macOS History Architecture Built-in apps Server Software Versions Mac OS X Server 1.0 Public Beta 10.0 Cheetah 10.1 Puma 10.2 Jaguar 10.3 Panther 10.4 Tiger 10.5 Leopard 10.6 Snow Leopard OS X 10.7 Lion 10.8 Mountain Lion 10.9 Mavericks 10.10 Yosemite 10.11 El Capitan macOS 10.12 Sierra 10.13 High Sierra 10.14 Mojave 10.15 Catalina 11 Big Sur 12 Monterey 13 Ventura 14 Sonoma 15 Sequoia 26 Tahoe 27 Golden Gate Predecessors Classic Mac OS NeXTSTEP Rhapsody Applications Core applications App Store Automator Calculator Calendar Contacts Control Center Dictionary FaceTime Finder Game Center Grapher Home Mail Messages News Music Notes Notification Center Podcasts Photo Booth Photos Preview QuickTime Player Reminders Safari Shortcuts Siri Stickies TextEdit Time Machine Developer Tools Xcode Instruments Former Interface Builder Dashcode Quartz Composer Utilities Boot Camp (deprecated) ColorSync Configurator Disk Utility Font Book Keychain Access Script Editor System Settings Terminal VoiceOver Former Dashboard Front Row iChat iPhoto iSync iTunes history Sherlock Technologies, user interface AirDrop AppKit Apple File System Apple menu Apple Push Notification service AppleScript Aqua Audio Units AVFoundation Bonjour Bundle CloudKit Cocoa ColorSync Command key Core Animation Core Audio Core Data Core Foundation Core Image Core OpenGL Core Text Core Video Cover Flow CUPS Darwin Dock FileVault Fonts Foundation Gatekeeper Grand Central Dispatch icns iCloud Kernel panic Keychain launchd Liquid Glass Mach-O Menu extra Metal Mission Control Night Shift OpenCL Option key Preference Pane Property list Quartz Quick Look Rosetta Smart Folders Speakable items Spotlight Stacks System Integrity Protection Uniform Type Identifier Universal binary WebKit XNU XQuartz Deprecated HFS+ Discontinued ATSUI BootX Brushed metal Carbon Classic Environment Inkwell QuickTime Spaces Xgrid Category

v t e iOS, iPadOS and other iOS-based products History iOS iPadOS Issues Outline Hardware iPhone (models) 1st 3G 3GS 4 4s 5 5c 5s 6 & 6 Plus 6s & 6s Plus 7 & 7 Plus 8 & 8 Plus X XR XS & XS Max 11 11 Pro & Pro Max 12 & 12 Mini 12 Pro & Pro Max 13 & 13 Mini 13 Pro & Pro Max 14 & 14 Plus 14 Pro & Pro Max 15 & 15 Plus 15 Pro & Pro Max 16 & 16 Plus 16 Pro & Pro Max 16e 17 17 Pro & Pro Max 17e SE 1st 2nd 3rd Air iPad (models) 1st 2 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th Mini 1st 2 3 4 5th 6th 7th Air 1st 2 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Pro 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Discontinued iPod Touch 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Other Apple TV Apple Watch HomePod Mini Software OS versions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 26 27 Derived from iOS watchOS tvOS iPadOS 13 14 15 16 17 18 26 27 visionOS Features AirDrop AirPlay AirPrint CarPlay Control Center Crash Detection Intelligence iTunes Night Shift Notification Center Shazam Siri Spotlight SpringBoard VoiceOver SDK & API SDK Foundation UIKit Core Animation HomeKit Inter-App Audio Liquid Glass WebKit GymKit HealthKit SwiftUI Bundled apps Books Calculator Calendar Clock Contacts FaceTime Freeform Files Find My Fitness Workouts Games Health Mindfulness Home Journal Mail Maps Messages Music News Notes Passwords Photos Podcasts Preview Reminders Safari Shortcuts Translate TV Wallet Weather Discontinued Newsstand Apple apps Classroom GarageBand iMovie iWork Keynote Numbers Pages Invites Discontinued Beats Music Clips iPhoto Nike+iPod iTunes Remote Services Arcade Card App Store Music FaceTime Family Sharing Game Center iCloud iMessage iTunes Connect iTunes Store News + One Pay Push Notifications TestFlight TV Wallet Discontinued iAd iLife iTunes Radio MobileMe Other Apple silicon Controversies 300-page bill Antennagate Batterygate Bendgate Jailbreaking Free and open-source apps Games iFund iPhone history iPhone hardware Metal Swift Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Metal (API)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_(API)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_(API)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.