[microtonal]

I hoped Apple would have had the design sense to keep them separate like they should be

I don't think Apple lost their religion. I think Catalyst/SwiftUI were created as an answer to desktop applications moving to Electron. Moving to web-based applications significantly reduces the value proposition of macOS and to some extend also iPadOS/iOS. Most likely, a SwiftUI app will still be a better macOS app than an Electron app. And if you can use a single framework across Macs/iPhones/iPads, it might entice developers to use SwiftUI for Apple platforms instead.

IMO, Catalyst and SwiftUI (at least so far) are a regression compared to good-old AppKit apps. But the world has changed, and I'd rather have a Mac/iOS world with SwiftUI apps than one with Electron/Ionic/whatever apps. At least the SwiftUI apps will look somewhat consistent and provide stronger platform integration.

[lapcat]

> I think Catalyst/SwiftUI were created as an answer to desktop applications moving to Electron.

How is it an answer? Electron gives the developer the same code for the web and for Microsoft Windows. Catalyst and SwiftUI give the developer none of theses.

[microtonal]

macOS has a small number of users compared to iOS. Many companies do make native iOS apps due to its large market share. If macOS can be targeted with the same API as iOS, it's more attractive for developers who are writing an iOS app to make a macOS build as well.

This has already happened for a small number of applications -- e.g. the macOS Twitter app is a port of the iOS app using the Catalyst framework.

[lapcat]

This has nothing to do with Electron.

There's no Electron for iOS (because Apple requires WebKit and prohibits Chromium).