6 ms·

I would certainly rather have a Catalyst app than an Electron app, just from a system resources used standpoint. Slack, for example, can be absolutely ridiculo

I would certainly rather have a Catalyst app than an Electron app, just from a system resources used standpoint. Slack, for example, can be absolutely ridiculous.

kitsunesoba 5y ago
If I could run the Slack or Discord iOS apps on macOS I absolutely would, along with several other apps that have both Electron and iOS apps. Are Catalyst apps as good as true designed-for-mac AppKit apps? Not usually, but they’re still several steps up from Electron apps and I’ll take what I can get. Unfortunately the companies behind these apps have elected to not allow users to make this choice, so once Universal Control is released these apps will be permanently moving to my iPad.
- spondyl 5y ago
  > If I could run the Slack or Discord iOS apps on macOS I absolutely would, along with several other apps that have both Electron and iOS apps. To clarify the situation for any unaware readers, you can indeed run iOS/iPad apps on M1 Apple Silicon devices however not all. From memory, the policy was actually that everything was allowed to be installed by default with developers having to opt out of allowing users to install their iOS/iPad apps on macOS devices. There used to be workaround that may still work, but I haven't tried it in some time. You can use https://imazing.com https://imazing.com (you'll just have to look past the marketing site for a minute...) to download apps you own as IPA files. Once you've got those, you can use the built-in macOS IPA installer to install those apps, even if developers have marketed them as not installable via the App Store. https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21574207/how-to-install-run-any-iphone-ipad-app-m1-mac https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21574207/how-to-install-... for a bit more info on the process
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    It’s a bit more complicated than that. First you need to dump the unencrypted app from its IPA (you can do this on an M1 Mac when SIP is enabled, or a jailbroken iOS device). Then, take the resulting IPA and resign it with a valid provisioning profile and you can then double-click to install it. I’ve been using Slack and Discord this way for months and apart from some minor bugs it’s a great experience.
jeffbee 5y ago
VSCode is an Electron app and it works fine. Slack is garbage because its authors just don't give a damn, not because of Electron.
- mrtksn 5y ago
  I’m still impressed every time when I’m reminded that VSCode is an Electron app. What did they get right that everyone else fails to?
  - kitsunesoba 5y ago
    The team behind VS Code are all-stars and they’re backed by an established company with plenty of money to throw and no hard deadlines to meet for profitability. VS Code is also central to Microsoft’s strategy to rebrand themselves as a “good guy” to the dev community. Most Electron apps are cost cutting measures and this is reflected in the quality of their teams and the priorities of the company. They’re made to check a box, not to be good.
    - userbinator 5y ago
      I haven't used VS Code, but on the other hand, Teams is also Electron and is one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used both in terms of UI and resource consumption.
      - jeffbee 5y ago
        Teams is unbelievably bad, proving that it's not about the company or the library, it's about the dev team.
      - kitsunesoba 5y ago
        Teams is much more of a "box checker" cost-cutter sort of project. Microsoft's enterprise customers are already captive, so Teams doesn't need to be good, it just needs to exist to prevent desertion due to lack of a Slack counterpart.
      - 5y ago
sys_64738 5y ago
Electron is like JAVA to me - I simply refuse to use them. Only Chrome type apps I use are Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge on the Mac.
- Kibranoz 5y ago
  Even Java is better than electron at this point
  - sys_64738 5y ago
    Maybe but it’s the constant updates to Java which do my head in.
    - tadfisher 5y ago
      You're supposed to bundle a slimmed-down Java runtime with your app these days, so end-users don't have to deal with updating a system-global "JRE" (which technically doesn't exist anymore, officially).
    - pjmlp 5y ago
      We are on Java 17, and since Java 9 that hasn't been a thing. The way now is to use jlinker and create an application specific runtime.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    Java is way better than Electron if you’re not on the bleeding edge. Surprisingly so.

I would certainly rather have a Catalyst app than an Electron app, just from a system resources used standpoint. Slack, for example, can be absolutely ridiculous.

kitsunesoba 5y ago

If I could run the Slack or Discord iOS apps on macOS I absolutely would, along with several other apps that have both Electron and iOS apps. Are Catalyst apps as good as true designed-for-mac AppKit apps? Not usually, but they’re still several steps up from Electron apps and I’ll take what I can get. Unfortunately the companies behind these apps have elected to not allow users to make this choice, so once Universal Control is released these apps will be permanently moving to my iPad.

spondyl 5y ago
> If I could run the Slack or Discord iOS apps on macOS I absolutely would, along with several other apps that have both Electron and iOS apps. To clarify the situation for any unaware readers, you can indeed run iOS/iPad apps on M1 Apple Silicon devices however not all. From memory, the policy was actually that everything was allowed to be installed by default with developers having to opt out of allowing users to install their iOS/iPad apps on macOS devices. There used to be workaround that may still work, but I haven't tried it in some time. You can use https://imazing.com https://imazing.com (you'll just have to look past the marketing site for a minute...) to download apps you own as IPA files. Once you've got those, you can use the built-in macOS IPA installer to install those apps, even if developers have marketed them as not installable via the App Store. https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21574207/how-to-install-run-any-iphone-ipad-app-m1-mac https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21574207/how-to-install-... for a bit more info on the process
- saagarjha 5y ago
  It’s a bit more complicated than that. First you need to dump the unencrypted app from its IPA (you can do this on an M1 Mac when SIP is enabled, or a jailbroken iOS device). Then, take the resulting IPA and resign it with a valid provisioning profile and you can then double-click to install it. I’ve been using Slack and Discord this way for months and apart from some minor bugs it’s a great experience.

jeffbee 5y ago

VSCode is an Electron app and it works fine. Slack is garbage because its authors just don't give a damn, not because of Electron.

mrtksn 5y ago
I’m still impressed every time when I’m reminded that VSCode is an Electron app. What did they get right that everyone else fails to?
- kitsunesoba 5y ago
  The team behind VS Code are all-stars and they’re backed by an established company with plenty of money to throw and no hard deadlines to meet for profitability. VS Code is also central to Microsoft’s strategy to rebrand themselves as a “good guy” to the dev community. Most Electron apps are cost cutting measures and this is reflected in the quality of their teams and the priorities of the company. They’re made to check a box, not to be good.
  - userbinator 5y ago
    I haven't used VS Code, but on the other hand, Teams is also Electron and is one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used both in terms of UI and resource consumption.
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      Teams is unbelievably bad, proving that it's not about the company or the library, it's about the dev team.
    - kitsunesoba 5y ago
      Teams is much more of a "box checker" cost-cutter sort of project. Microsoft's enterprise customers are already captive, so Teams doesn't need to be good, it just needs to exist to prevent desertion due to lack of a Slack counterpart.
    - 5y ago

sys_64738 5y ago

Electron is like JAVA to me - I simply refuse to use them. Only Chrome type apps I use are Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge on the Mac.

Kibranoz 5y ago
Even Java is better than electron at this point
- sys_64738 5y ago
  Maybe but it’s the constant updates to Java which do my head in.
  - tadfisher 5y ago
    You're supposed to bundle a slimmed-down Java runtime with your app these days, so end-users don't have to deal with updating a system-global "JRE" (which technically doesn't exist anymore, officially).
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    We are on Java 17, and since Java 9 that hasn't been a thing. The way now is to use jlinker and create an application specific runtime.
- bombcar 5y ago
  Java is way better than Electron if you’re not on the bleeding edge. Surprisingly so.