Dactyl: A Wasm Port of the iOS Simulator That Runs SwiftUI in the Browser
How Dactyl Works
Dactyl is a development platform that lets you build native iOS and Android apps with SwiftUI, without the usual compromises. Its preview engine is a reimplementation of SwiftUI in Swift, compiled to WebAssembly, so apps run in the browser with no simulator rental or installation. The engine emits draw commands to a JavaScript host that paints on Canvas2D, and uses dynamic linking to keep edits fast. On Android, the same engine compiles natively and a Jetpack Compose host mounts real Material widgets. The development loop uses a fleet of agents that diff the engine's output against a real iOS simulator pixel by pixel.
What if you could have a simulator inside your browser? Well, that would scale infinitely.
- CharlesW
Is there anything here that professional product builders might be interested in, or is this just another entry in the AI app builder category?
It's cognitive whiplash to be sent to a blog post that will be interesting to some HN readers, and from there jump to a front page that says, "This not for you, and if we're successful will make make you irrelevant".
- ahf8Aithaex7Nai
"App development has always been harder than web development for LLMs."
What do they mean by "always"? Am I old? Are there people out there for whom LLMs aren't the new thing?
- lukevp
Running an iOS app on Android is still gonna look like an iOS app. This seems worse than Flutter (reimplement the whole UI) or React Native (abstract on top of native UI.) If we’re ok picking a non-native UI why not just build a Cordova app?