Supported Platforms
Metal is designed to run exclusively on Apple platforms, with basically full support across the Apple hardware ecosystem.
Whether you’re targeting iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple TV, or Vision Pro, Metal provides us with unified access to the GPU for graphics and compute tasks.
As you can see Metal is not a cross-platform API
Down below I’ve made a simple table listing all the devices and their support for Metal:
| Platform | Supported Since | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| iOS | iOS 8 (2014) | Full support on A7 chips and later |
| macOS | macOS 10.11 (2015) | Metal 2 introduced in macOS 10.13 |
| iPadOS | iPadOS 13 (2019) | Same GPU support as iOS |
| tvOS | tvOS 9 (2015) | Used for Apple TV apps and games |
| visionOS | visionOS 1.0 (2024) | Extended for stereoscopic rendering |
| watchOS | ❌ Not supported | Metal is not available on Apple Watch, instead it uses Core Animation (or QuartzCore) |
As you can see, Metal is essentially available all across the spectrum of Apple devices - with the exception of the Apple Watch that uses a separate system called Core Animation or QuartzCore to handle the rendering of 2 dimensional content.
Metal API Versions
Metal evolves with every Apple OS release, therefore it also has different versions:
| Version | Key Features |
|---|---|
| Metal 1 | Initial release (iOS 8, macOS 10.11) |
| Metal 2 | Improved debugging, compute, VR (macOS 10.13) |
| Metal 3 | Added ray tracing, mesh shaders (macOS 13/iOS 16) |
| MetalFX | Upscaling for games (M2+ GPU support) |
Hardware Requirements
Metal requires devices with Apple-designed GPUs or Metal-capable chips.
Here’s a general breakdown:
iOS / iPadOS
- A7 chip or newer (iPhone 5s, iPad Air 1, etc.)
- Recommended: A11 or newer for serious 3D/compute
macOS
- Macs with Intel + AMD/NVIDIA GPUs (Metal 1/2 supported on some)
- Best experience on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
tvOS
- Apple TV HD and newer (A8 chip and up)
visionOS
- Metal supports stereoscopic rendering and passthrough composition
- Built into the Vision Pro SDK
Always check the Apple Metal Feature Set Tables to confirm support per device.