Is OpenCL deprecated in macOS? The Apple Developer OpenCL page doesn't make that clear, but some claim it is no longer supported.

OpenCL was deprecated in macOS 10.14.

From OpenCL for macOS - Apple Developer …

Migration documentation: Apple Developer Documentation

And then there’s this:

One of the alternatives to Metal directly can be Vulkan on Metal: https://moltengl.com/moltenvk/

iangreen wrote:

The conclusion I can come to is that ignorance is the reason that some developers, of software such as GPU mining software don't support macOS and Apple hardware, and write only for Linux and Windows, or if they do, they don't use the necessary frameworks required to get comparable performance when running on macOS.

For Apple’s published guidelines for this whole area, on-device cryptocurrency hash-guessing (“mining”, in the jargon) is specifically forbidden. See 2.4.2 and 3.1.5 in the App Store Guidelines for details.

Proof-of-work and its integral hash-guessing is a wildly power-inefficient design, and those involved in hash-guessing purchase their hardware based on raw hash-guessing rates, and operating that hardware based on power costs, all while avoiding areas where hash-guessers might be subject to prosecution as is a possibility in various jurisdictions. (Nobody has yet gotten proof-of-stake deployed at any scale, either.)

Discussions of support for OpenCL or Vulkan or other frameworks aside, Apple hardware is not now and never has been price-competitive at high hash-guessing rates. In recent years, Apple specifically targets performance with power efficiency with Apple silicon, and which is not what hash-guessers want.

For those interested and unfamiliar with this area, the video Line Goes Up — The Problem With NFTs is a good starting point for understanding.

iangreen wrote:

The conclusion I can come to is that ignorance is the reason that some developers, of software such as GPU mining software don't support macOS and Apple hardware, and write only for Linux and Windows, or if they do, they don't use the necessary frameworks required to get comparable performance when running on macOS.

There is a shocking level of ignorance in the developer community to any Apple developments in the past 10 years.

However, I think crypto-mining is one market area where that would not apply. Something as raw quantitative as that doesn’t need the qualitative benefits of the Mac. They don’t care about the energy efficiency either. I’ve seen some stories recently about miners dumping their old GPUs on the used market.

If you want cross-market compatibility in the consumer market, stick with OpenCL and OpenGL because the Mac is only 10% of the market. But on the other hand, if you want that 10x larger iPhone market, you need Metal, and you get the Mac market for a discount.