5 ms·

How does one check if an app running on a mac is native or electron?

by creddit 5y ago

philwelch 5y ago
If it looks identical to the web app and consumes half a gig of RAM, it's probably electron.
- ex3ndr 5y ago
  Is SourceTree an electron app?
  - philwelch 5y ago
    I dunno, I've never used it.
Klonoar 5y ago
Generally a massive bundle size, and/or inspecting the bundled frameworks themselves (right click on app -> show package -> browse folders for frameworks).
scoopertrooper 5y ago
Usually evident from Activity Monitor, if you see <App name> Helper (GPU), then you have an Electron app running.
- mrpippy 5y ago
  Push cmd-R and see if it refreshes. 1Password 8 does.
  - fullstop 5y ago
    This drives me bonkers, especially if I've been using the shell a lot recently and I'm used to pressing ctrl+r to repeat a previously used command.
gumby 5y ago
If you can’t tell the difference it doesn’t matter and I wouldn’t worry about it. Electron apps typically don’t work for me because they don’t integrate with the rest of the system cleanly, and so once you stray off the designers’ happy path it becomes clumsy to use the app. This isn’t an esthetic or ideological argument; simply for my usage an electron app can rarely be as convenient as a native app on the Mac. Things like input integration, system service integration, selection, and responsiveness are much harder to do when you are fighting the electron abstraction, so no wonder devs leave those things out.
- dylan604 5y ago
  Just because a user can't tell the difference doesn't mean we shouldn't call out the fact that it is. Electron apps use way too many system resources. For lower powered devices, this becomes an issue.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
cormacrelf 5y ago
Show package contents, check if 'Electron Framework.framework' is in Contents/Frameworks.
wpm 5y ago
Poke around the application bundle or its supporting files directories. On macOS, the Electron.framework folder will typically be somewhere inside of the .app bundle.

How does one check if an app running on a mac is native or electron?

philwelch 5y ago

If it looks identical to the web app and consumes half a gig of RAM, it's probably electron.

ex3ndr 5y ago
Is SourceTree an electron app?
- philwelch 5y ago
  I dunno, I've never used it.

Klonoar 5y ago

Generally a massive bundle size, and/or inspecting the bundled frameworks themselves (right click on app -> show package -> browse folders for frameworks).

scoopertrooper 5y ago

Usually evident from Activity Monitor, if you see <App name> Helper (GPU), then you have an Electron app running.

mrpippy 5y ago
Push cmd-R and see if it refreshes. 1Password 8 does.
- fullstop 5y ago
  This drives me bonkers, especially if I've been using the shell a lot recently and I'm used to pressing ctrl+r to repeat a previously used command.

gumby 5y ago

If you can’t tell the difference it doesn’t matter and I wouldn’t worry about it. Electron apps typically don’t work for me because they don’t integrate with the rest of the system cleanly, and so once you stray off the designers’ happy path it becomes clumsy to use the app. This isn’t an esthetic or ideological argument; simply for my usage an electron app can rarely be as convenient as a native app on the Mac. Things like input integration, system service integration, selection, and responsiveness are much harder to do when you are fighting the electron abstraction, so no wonder devs leave those things out.

dylan604 5y ago
Just because a user can't tell the difference doesn't mean we shouldn't call out the fact that it is. Electron apps use way too many system resources. For lower powered devices, this becomes an issue.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

cormacrelf 5y ago

Show package contents, check if 'Electron Framework.framework' is in Contents/Frameworks.

wpm 5y ago

Poke around the application bundle or its supporting files directories. On macOS, the Electron.framework folder will typically be somewhere inside of the .app bundle.