Interesting question from Jason Snell in episode 366 of the Upgrade podcast on Relay FM: Is using Electron on macOS a temporary thing until Apple has improved SwiftUI on macOS? If so, how long do you think we have to cope with the Electron App on macOS?

I think the only way that's going to happen is if Apple matures SwiftUI to the point that it would be easier for developers to use it than to port the Windows version to the Mac (which, let's be honest, that's what the Electron version really is). I'd say that's at least a couple years off, if ever. By that time 1Password will have invested quite a bit into the Windows port, and I highly doubt there will be enough financial incentive for them to make the move. When you owe investors millions of dollars, it's all about the bottom line. Quality and craftsmanship have to take a back seat to growth. Personally, I'm exporting all 1,325 items in my 1P database and I'll be importing them one by one as needed into the new Monterey password manager. Work decided months ago to use LastPass, it was just my team sticking with 1Password because, as I kept arguing with IT, over and over, 1Password was the best. Was. Now I've got to eat some humble pie and recommend my team go with the rest of the company and move to LastPass with everyone else.

XIII We are trying to build the best experience possible with the tools we have today. 1Password desktop app was rewritten from scratch several times and if there is a better technology with clear advantages available tomorrow, we will be there to adopt it. We argue the differences between AppKit, SwiftUI, Catalyst, Electron, Tauri, etc but it is also a very low-level discussion in many ways. It is very important for us to make 1Password better as a product: add features that were on the back-burner for years, make it easier to new users, make it more powerful for advanced users, support both individual/family and business customers, try to not break existing workflows that people had for years and at the same time also create new better ones.

roustem We are trying to build the best experience possible with the tools we have today. Well… sort of? If building the best Mac experience were your goal, why port over the Windows version? The goal was to unify the platform codebases. Hence the Windows port. I believe you are all trying your best with the toolset you've chosen. That's a different statement from building the best experience with what's available. Ah well… so it goes. I evangelized for you, I upgraded, subscribed at home and at work, and I trusted 1Password with my most important information. And now it's all this. I joined this forum to help make a difference for 1P8, but I no longer believe that's going to happen. The tone (and let's be honest, snark) of my posts has steadily decreased to the point where it's no longer good for me or for you. Best of luck, hope it's worth it.

If building the best Mac experience were your goal, why port over the Windows version? Because with the amount of work that went into Linux and Windows, it is much better experience than anything else we provide. If you keep an open mind and look at the product that people, it is a better product. Just like people prefer Slack to HipChat it is often not the minute details that make a difference but the overall experience.

It is very important for us to make 1Password better as a product: add features that were on the back-burner for years, make it easier to new users, make it more powerful for advanced users, support both individual/family and business customers, try to not break existing workflows that people had for years and at the same time also create new better ones. I find it hard to have an open mind here (but I'm trying!): version 8 is breaking a lot of my workflows and I have not seen a single new thing that I got excited about. Still, I have v8 installed and hope your team can convince me to not revert to v7.

Is Electron a temporary thing until Apple improves SwiftUI on macOS?

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Former Member
5 years ago
I think the only way that's going to happen is if Apple matures SwiftUI to the point that it would be easier for developers to use it than to port the Windows version to the Mac (which, let's be honest, that's what the Electron version really is). I'd say that's at least a couple years off, if ever. By that time 1Password will have invested quite a bit into the Windows port, and I highly doubt there will be enough financial incentive for them to make the move. When you owe investors millions of dollars, it's all about the bottom line. Quality and craftsmanship have to take a back seat to growth.

Personally, I'm exporting all 1,325 items in my 1P database and I'll be importing them one by one as needed into the new Monterey password manager. Work decided months ago to use LastPass, it was just my team sticking with 1Password because, as I kept arguing with IT, over and over, 1Password was the best. Was. Now I've got to eat some humble pie and recommend my team go with the rest of the company and move to LastPass with everyone else.

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Is Electron a temporary thing until Apple improves SwiftUI on macOS?

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