Schwab still not supporting thinkorswim platform on Mac m1 chip

This video shows you how to use Apple Silicon Java instead of Intel Java for Think or Swim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVSNDyBwtPU

Rosetta 2 generally works well for running Intel programs on Apple Silicon as it just translates the x86 code to Apple Silicon code and it can save the code so that it doesn't have to continue translating it once it has been run. Java, though, is an interpreted language, and Rosetta 2 can't save the code after it's translated.

My experiments show a roughly three to one performance penalty for running Intel Java with Think or Swim compared to Apple Silicon Java.

MikeBruner wrote:

Yes. My question is whether it is really that hard for them. Clearly they won't give me the true answer. So wondered if those at Apple, work with these things could tell me the true story on just how complex this issue is.

As stated, we’re not Apple. No one here knows. Those at Schwab that do probably can’t or won’t say.

Hypothetically…

“Hard” is third or fourth or lower on the list of considerations. Self-enrichment of the senior staff is very near or at the top of the list. Which might conflict with business plans and priorities, too. Then comes corporate strategy and corporate revenues high up on the list. “Hard” is fairly far down that list, particularly if the expected cash is high enough to overcome “hard”. Having so-called moats against competition are popular with businesses, after all.

Conceivably (and again, entirely hypothetically), somebody involved in the decisions here could foresee personal or business profits from Intel or AMD or other proponents of x86-64, and would simply prefer Apple silicon Macs to fail.

Or there’s some licensed third-party app or technology involved; some less-than-technical factor.

We don’t know.

Technically…

You likely know from that Reddit post that native JRE is not difficult to achieve for this existing app.

Nor would adding macOS (on Apple silicon) support to a native SwiftUI iOS app, if that’s what Schwab is using for that app.

There will be testing and deployment costs, as always.

What to do?

Maybe have a look at OpenBB, or at the Schwab iOS app, or at the competitive products. Or at that Reddit Java re-hosting.

TL;DR: Nobody posting here knows. Ask Schwab. Their app, their decision.

this is the best guide I've found: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkorswim/comments/oojac1/guide_running_thinkorswim_natively_on_apple/

was considering to purchase a macMini when the new chips come out and move it from my 2 homes to trade, but waiting for a better way to run it natively than the links solution (which actually runs great from other traders I've talked to). good luck!

TOS is actively working on an M1 supported App. I was told this directly from a support rep who helped maximize my settings on my M1 MBP, and there’s also TOS agents on Twtr who have confirmed it. No idea time table, but it’s coming at some point. Using TOS right now on my M1 Pro is painfully slow

The "true story" is not speculation or hearsay on the Internet, nor in these user-supported Apple communities. If Schwab has made the internal business decision to not support their particular application on Apple Silicon platforms, then that is the last and final word without need for further conjecture about porting Java applications, etc.

stockwee wrote:

MikeBruner's post is very informative to the Mac community of traders. Not sure why you would oppose an open conversation about a timeline for porting a critical non-native app to apple silicon? There are numerous other post all over the community relating to support of non-apple products and applications running on Apple devices.

This is an Apple forum so there are relatively few people who know anything, or have even heard of, this software. A forum dedicated to users of this software would know more than anyone here.

Generally speaking, I don’t see what there is to converse about. It looks like Schwab already has software that will work. They have simply decided that users should not run it on a Mac. Why that is, I can’t guess. Again, you are much more likely to find someone who knows something about these kinds of decisions on a Schwab forum, assuming one exists.

They seem to have a thinkorswim app available for the iOS platform. I expect that the old Java version would be, and should be, abandoned. However, they have not enabled the app to run on the M1 chip for some reason. While developers do have the option to prevent iOS apps from running on Apple Silicon Macs, they should really be providing a native app in that case.

It actually isn't a very complex issue. Apple has designed Apple Silicon Macs to be able to run iOS apps. It is always possible that there are complications, but it's been a couple of years now and Schwab certainly can't claim to have insufficient resources. When all other explanations fail, fall back to the most obvious. They just don't care.

MikeBruner wrote:

Yes. My question is whether it is really that hard for them. Clearly they won't give me the true answer. So wondered if those at Apple, work with these things could tell me the true story on just how complex this issue is.

This is a user-to-user forum. Apple's participation here is minimal. Neither the Hosts nor the Community Specialists, who are the primary Apple participants are people who would know the "true story".

MikeBruner's post is very informative to the Mac community of traders. Not sure why you would oppose an open conversation about a timeline for porting a critical non-native app to apple silicon? There are numerous other post all over the community relating to support of non-apple products and applications running on Apple devices.

This is an Apple user-to-user support forum. It is not a Schwab forum.