https://david.dev/you-cannot-submit-an-electron-6-or-7-app-to-the-apple-store?utm_campaign=iOS%2BDev%2BWeekly&utm_medium=web&utm_source=iOS%2BDev%2BWeekly%2BIssue%2B429

[utterances-bot]

david.dev

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[https://david.dev/you-cannot-submit-an-electron-6-or-7-app-to-the-apple-store

[GJNilsen]

In my opinion this is not bad. First of all the electron powered apps do not have the look and feel of native apps and are laggy. Why not make real native apps, and you wont have this problem...

[gurugeek]

because a) you need to write the same code 3 times to achieve the same result b) you need to invest a lot of time knowing 3 languages vs. 1. So this is indeed bad but it is been fixed by the electron team already.

[GJNilsen]

Why three times? You write code once, and reuse it on iOS, iPadOS and macOS. Only presentation differs.

[gurugeek]

@GJNilsen what about Windows and Linux? electron is about cross-platform desktop apps.

[GJNilsen]

Swift compiles and runs great on Linux. And as a matter of fact, there is Swift on Windows as well. So then you get native compiled code instead of some javascript running on a webpage trying to be an app.

[gurugeek]

@GJNilsen there are plenty of electron apps used by millions of people that are not just a webpage e.g. Skype, Visual Studio, Atom etc. How many cross platform swift applications? None that I am aware of because I doubt that you can use swift reliably with no modifications on windows. At any rate this is not a debate between a technology or another. Even for mobile apps you can simply write the apps in flutter and have it working out of the box for android and iOS. Writing it in Swift first and then on Java or Kotlin again for Android is a waste of time.

If you feel that electron apps are laggy you have the choice not to use them/write an app in electron. This said it shouldn't remove the option to other developers that like to write desktop apps in javascript and to users that feel like using them.

[GJNilsen]

Electron apps are uninstalled right after they are launched, because of the horrendous look and performance. Not one Electron app, and I have tried those you listed, give the same smooth feel as a native app. I do understand a small time indie dev who tries to make an app for every platform will be tempted to use crap like Electron, but then that dev is biting off more than he can chew. All different platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, and tailoring code and UI for each one kind of takes the reason for making a script driven webpage packages in an app away. So why just not make a web app instead? The user experience will be crappy anyway. It wont be a good Mac, Windows or Linux app, and especially not great for mobile.

[gurugeek]

@GJNilsen once again that is your option. But it is not supported by objective arguments. In the real world nobody (not even giants like Microsoft or Alibaba) is looking to triple (or double in the case of apps since you do need android apps too) the effort for no objective reason.

The "look" of an app has nothing to do with the platform you use it. Did you ever develop a mobile app with flutter? Just for your reference these are native apps. So are the electron apps BTW. " Electron is a framework for creating native applications with web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It takes care of the hard parts so you can focus on the core of your application."

[GJNilsen]

Look and feel is important, that’s a fact. If not why bother with UI design? Apps should adhere to the UI for each platform they are on. This is not a personal opinion.

Electron apps are crap, and developers using Electron for development are lazy. That’s my personal opinion.

[gurugeek]

@GJNilsen you can have the same look and feel across all platform (meaning respect the general UI for each OS) with electron. If you develop only for Mac that swift might give you an edge but if you want to have your desktop app running on windows and linux too is not about being lazy. Is about being efficient. Just saying that something is "crap" doesn't make your opinion very persuasive.

[GJNilsen]

an app should adhere to the design of each platform. Skype for for example, it looks like a windows app on all devices. And that is crap, like it or not.