How to Convert Android Apps to iOS and OSX Apps

Many developers who want to start a career on app developing primarily put their efforts on iOS because of the lucrative market. For independent developers it’s quite difficult to learn a new programming language to port their apps to other platforms.

This can take a long time and it can be too much of investment. For many years this was the main reason so many developer were focusing in making apps only for iOS. However, some projects such as Xamarin comes in handy to developers who are familiar with C#.

Xamaring allows developers to push their projects on iOS, Android and even Windows mobile. But in the other hand Android developers use to code in Java language. To use Xamarin they will need to learn a new programming language and new build platform to convert Android apps to iOS and other platforms.

To bridge the gap between Android, iOS and other platforms, a company called MechDome comes in. It is a startup based on California. They come up with the idea to create a tool to make it possible to convert Android apps to iOS and OSX.

Well the good news is: they did id. The tool will automatically create iOS and OSX apps from the Android app. Thanks to MechDome, developers don’t need anymore to get familiar with a new build system and learn another programming language. Smart idea, isn’t it? No need to learn a new API or IDE.

How to convert Android apps to iOS and OSX using MechDome

The concept of MechDome is pretty simple. All you need to do is to send an APK file to MechDome, no source code at all. Their tool automatically will compile another standalone app for iOS and OSX. The app is ready to distribute on Apple’s App Store.

On an interview for XDA developers, the MechDome founder and CEO, Mario Kosmiskas explained that their tool works perfect and they made some live demonstrations to prove that it works. Although he explained that still there are some limitations because of the fundamental differences between how iOS and Android operate.

There are some apps that are produces using MechDome tool. They’re live on Apple App Store. We can mention the open-source Reddit client RedReader and an open-source Sudoku client to prove it works.

The biggest goal of Mech Dome

The biggest goal of MechDome is to make it possible for all Android apps to convert an unmodified Android app into a native iOS or OSX app. Thanks to this amazing tool you don’t need to get familiar with any C-library because the tool will handle everything for you.

The MechDome’s tool also manage pretty well the UI details so there is no need to use a UI builder to modify Android Apps. This means that Android apps designed for tablets will be converted into a format nicely suitable on iPads.

MechDome is also working hard to create such a tool that will fully convert an Android app to iOS and OXS in that manner that the users of the target OS system are familiar. So this means the Android share menu will be replaced with the native share sheet in iOS and if applicable, the ability to use air drop. The options that intend to open an app on Android device will open an app on the iOS device.

In other words all hardware functionality required for the use of an Android app will be mapped directly to use the relevant hardware in iOS. They to intend to make the tool to fully convert Android apps to iOS or OSX with all their functionalities.

MechDome Limitations

But as we said previously there are some limitations because of the nature how iOS works. The biggest challenge of an Android developer when converting an Android app to iOS, is how to handle the background service. iOS is more stringent when it comes to the background services that third-party applications can run. Furthermore the rich system present in Android that allows for inter-apps to communication is missing on iOS.

Google Play Services API also is not supported, so the apps relying on Google services will not fuction. This means that developers will be limited to functionality when convert Android apps to iOS. It might not be a significant problem for most apps and games.

Currently MechDome is having a free public beta program. All the developers can register their app on the MechDome website to receive an invite to test converting their Android app. You may be thinking about the price of this great tool that will convert Android apps to iOS in seconds, but the price is not unveiled yet. The MechDome project is in its early stage and it seems interesting so you would better stay tuned to learn more how it goes..