Running Kotlin on iOS (RoboVM bought by Xamarin)

1

As far as I know using RoboVM was the only way of running Kotlin apps on iOS (created using LibGDX, for example), but since Xamarin acquired RoboVM and since MS acquired Xamarin, it looks like this might be the end of RoboVM, so my question is:

Are there any other ways of getting Kotling apps to work on iOS?

It looks like cooperation between JetBrains and RoboVM team was pretty strong in the past (there’s a RoboVM plugin for IDEA and RoboVM Studio based on IDEA CE) so I’m wondering if you guys at JetBrains have got any more info about this whole thing. I tried contacting RoboVM directly, but they are not answering (others have tried it as well) which I guess is not a good sign.

2 Likes
2

Unfortunately we do not know anything beyond what has been made public. Sorry.

3

The thing is nothing has been made public :slight_smile: they just stopped replying to emails and even stopped billing people who bought commercial licenses.

But are there, apart from RoboVM, any other ways of building Kotlin apps for iOS?

4

Yes, there are. Here’s one: Intel Developer Zone

2 Likes
5

Thanks, I’ll give it a try, but I’m guessing it doesn’t integrate easily with any of your tools :slight_smile:

6

It’s just me with some bad news - RoboVM is being shut down: https://robovm.com/robovm-winding-down/
Good news is LibGDX guys are almost done with support for Multi-OS Engine: http://www.badlogicgames.com/wordpress/?p=3925

Edit: BTW, they say that Multi-OS Engine integrates with IDEA, but I couldn’t find any howtos about it. So, does it? :slight_smile:

7

RoboVM have just released information. https://robovm.com/robovm-winding-down/

8

There’s an interesting discussion about Java’s future on iOS, Android, legal issues, etc. I must admit I wasn’t aware of the majority of these problems and the fact that things don’t look that bright:

http://www.badlogicgames.com/wordpress/?p=3925

9

Apparently RoboVM was (at least in some way) open source – https://github.com/MobiDevelop/robovm

Edit: No debugger or interface builder support, though, so I’m thinking that fork’s not going to be a workable production solution until it matures a bit.