In the iOS app, I am using grouped UITableViews to handle my settings. What is likely to be the most sensible way to port this to mac?
Preferences in a Mac app are usually presented in a custom-designed Preferences window that can be opened from the menu bar (App Name -> Preferences) or with Cmd-,
. You can use Cocoa Bindings to the Shared User Defaults Controller to automatically bind controls to user defaults values without writing any code in many circumstances.