Skip brings Swift app development to Android. It is a tool that enables developers to use a single modern programming language (Swift) and first-class development environment (Xcode) to build genuinely native apps for both iOS and Android.
Skip is a tool that transpiles your SwiftUI iOS app into a Kotlin Jetpack Compose app, and enables you to use a single language to create a complete app that reaches the entire mobile marketplace.
What it is: Skip stands in contrast to other cross-platform development tools like Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin, in that it enables the creation of genuinely native applications for both of the dominant mobile platforms. It doesn't embed a separate engine or runtime into your app, but instead lets you use pure Swift and SwiftUI to create the iOS side of the app (as per Apple's recommended best practices for creating iOS apps), and transpiles it into a pure Kotlin and Jetpack Compose app for the Android side (which is Google's recommendation for building Android apps). So your application will use platform-native controls and will automatically have all the affordances provided by the platform vendor: animations, accessibility, and future-proof evolution alongside OS updates.
How it works: you build a Skip app using the same tools that you use to create a standard iOS app: Xcode, Swift, and SwiftUI. Skip augments this workflow with a Swift Package Manager plugin called "skipstone", which transpiles your Swift into Kotlin each time you build your app, and launches the Android app side-by-side with the iOS app each time you run the app. The transpilation works not just on your primary app module, but also transitively processes all your dependent SwiftPM modules, so you can break complex projects down into individually testable sub-modules containing business logic or UI code. In fact, this is how our own adaptor modules for the standard frameworks are structured: SkipFoundation adapts the Foundation framework and SkipUI adapts the SwiftUI framework, so the same familiar API can be used when building the app. And there's a GitHub ecosystem of open-source modules supporting popular frameworks, including SQLite, Firebase, Lottie, and many other common building blocks of modern apps.
Over the past year Skip has evolved into a fully-capable solution for creating best-in-class apps for both iOS and Android. And today we are delighted to announce the release of version 1.0, meaning that it is ready for production use.
We have a wealth of videos and documentation available at https://skip.tools, and I'll be around to field any questions that any of you might have. Thanks in advance for taking a look!
Sounds interesting, but I've seen similar claims from Flutter and React Native, isn't this just another cross-platform thing that's gonna perform worse than native dev, might be good for startups but kinda skeptical about its performance and long-term usability without proprietary runtimes, anyone tried it and had a good experience?
Okay, so we've got another cross-platform development tool, like Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin, but focusing on Swift and Kotlin, it's an interesting approach, but I'm not sure how it's different from the existing ones or if there's a real need for it, if it delivers on native performance would be cool, but we've seen promises like this before, and they often fall short in real-world scenarios, wondering if devs actually need another tool that makes big promises but might not live up to them
This is a fantastic tool for us developers who want to build native apps without juggling multiple languages. The ability to use Xcode for Android is a great.
I love how this tool bridges the gap between iOS and Android development. Using Swift across both platforms is going to save so much time.
This new tool is interesting cuz it promises genuine native apps but why limit to just Swift and Kotlin, what if I prefer React Native or Flutter, also how does it handle niche features specific to one platform, would love to see more benchmarks on performance compared to other frameworks too
Ohhh, congrats on the launch! Is this the tool we've all been waiting for? I think it is! native components for both OS's is GREAT! One question though; I can imagine there are components that are specifically built for iOS or Android. How do you handle those differences?
I find the idea of using Swift for Android development interesting but also a bit concerning, Swift is great for iOS, but I wonder about the long-term compatibility and support for Android, plus, most of us are already invested in languages like Java and Kotlin for Android, It's hard to see how switching to a new tool will be worth the learning curve, also, some daily used Android components and libraries may not play nicely with Swift yet, which could cause some headaches for seasoned Android devs, just my two cents
This is a must try for me.
I have loved the swift language for long time now.
I can wait to see how the experience with Skip brings an Android feel to it.
Congrats on the launch
The concept of using one laungage for both platforms is impressive looking forward to its perform
Simplifying cross-platform development while maintain native performance is a valuable feature
Great work on bringing this life to Being able to use Swift for Android development is a huge win. It’ll definitely streamline the process for iOS developers expanding to Android.
Congrats on the launch! 🚀 You’ve turned your dreams into reality, and it’s absolutely inspiring. I’m thrilled to support and use it. Keep reaching for the stars! ⭐ @mwp
okay, so you're saying this tool turns Swift apps into Kotlin ones, but like, does it keep the same performance and responsiveness that native apps offer, cause sometimes these cross-platform things lag a bit, also how does it handle platform-specific features and updates, gotta wonder how reliable it'll be over time
sounds kind of interesting but honestly not sure if I buy the whole "genuinely native" thing, Swift to Kotlin's got to lose something in translation somewhere, let's see how it holds up under real-world use 🤔
As an iOS developer, I can now use Swift and Xcode to create native Android apps without learning a new language. Skip is a game-changer!
I’m excited to see how this will impact cross-platform development. Wishing you great success with this innovative tool!
Congratulations on the launch! I hope this tool makes it easier for developers to build high-quality apps for both iOS and Android.
