Starting as early as next year, software developers will be able to design a single application that works across Apple's iPhone, iPad or Macs, according to Bloomberg.

The univesral apps will be accessible through the App Store.

The same approach hasn't worked nearly as well on Apple's desktops and laptops. The Mac App Store has a limited selection and rarely updated programs. Now Apple plans to change that by giving people a way to use a single set of apps that work equally well across its family of devices.

Currently, developers design two different apps -- one for iOS, the operating system of Apple's mobile devices, and one for macOS, the system that runs Macs.

Apple currently plans to begin rolling out the change as part of next fall's major iOS and macOS updates, according to the report.

Apple declined to comment.

Before it discontinued Windows software for smartphones, Microsoft also pushed a technology called Universal Windows Platform that let developers create single applications that would run on all of its devices -- tablets, phones, and full-fledged computers. Similarly, Google has brought the Play mobile app store to some laptops running its desktop Chrome OS, letting computer users run smartphone and tablet apps like Instagram and Snapchat.