More Than Just Code podcast - iOS, visionOS and Swift development, news and advice · Tim Mitra, Jaime Lopez Jr, Mark Rubin

Abe White and Marc Prud'hommeaux of Skip Tools

·1 hr 13 min·5 clips

The conversation opens with Skip as a practical tool for real app work. Tim says he had been hearing about it for months, then tried it because he was already juggling Flutter and React on a multi-platform project, and the timing felt right for an early-stage app. That context matters. Abe and Mark frame the project around using Swift where it fits while still reaching Android, which makes the show feel less like a language debate and more like a discussion of shipping software across platforms. The native path comes up early. They walk through how Android developers already live with Java and Kotlin on top of the JVM, why JNI exists as the bridge to native code, and how Skip has been pushing toward native Swift on Android through its toolchain work. The memory story is central. Mark explains that more native code means less dependence on garbage collection, lower overhead, and more predictable allocation and deallocation behavior, which is the kind of detail that changes how an app feels in practice. Skip SQL is a concrete example. Instead of using the Java SQLite APIs, it uses Skip FFI to speak directly to the SQLite C API, giving the same capability on both sides and keeping the performance discussion specific rather than abstract. The episode keeps circling back to parity. The point is not just that something runs on both iOS and Android, but that the code paths can stay close enough to preserve capability while still taking advantage of native performance characteristics. The hosts do not rush that argument. They let the architecture story breathe, then connect it back to what an app developer actually experiences when a system is more efficient and more predictable. There is also a practical contributor angle. They talk about how people can get started by creating an Xcode workspace, adding the Skip library and a project or showcase app, then sending a pull request back to the team. Even the smaller platform wins stand out. Support for things like tab views with a paging style comes up as a reminder that the ecosystem is still growing through contributions. By the end, the tone is collaborative. It feels like experienced Apple-platform developers comparing notes on what already works, what still needs care, and where cross-platform Swift might genuinely simplify the job.

As heard by us

A focused look at Skip Tools for developers weighing native Swift on Android.

The episode stays practical, centering Skip Tools and the case for bringing native Swift into Android work without pretending the platforms are the same. It opens with a real developer need instead of a polished sales pitch, which keeps the discussion steady and easy to trust.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

See how Swift can reach Android without pretending the platform details do not matter.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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