I knew this day was coming but dreaded it. My employer has asked that I develop a client App for iOS and Android.
Basically we are recreating a client web app that I have already built all with Wappler. So I am sure that it can all be done for an App.
My concern is how is Wappler moving along in the Mobile App area and since I need both iOS and Android can they both be packaged for store upload from the same build? Can they be packaged right in Wappler?
You can use the current Project as the source for data for your mobile Projects. Saves re-creating everything that side. Wappler is perfectly capable of building the application and packaging it ready for Play Store, aside from the signing certificate required for Android (have covered that here on the forums). You’ll just need to run the build command for Cordova to build for release which is simple to do.
cordova build android --release
We don’t do IOS. The restrictions imposed by Apple to host applications is ridiculous. Where as Android and Google are relatively easy to work with. Their Developer account (required for the Play Store is around €25.00) is a bit daunting at first and not much makes sense until you realise each app effectively has its own dashboard. I’ve still not finished any guides but am available via PM if you need to ask anything Brad.
Hey @brad,
If your website/webapp is totally responsive, the easier solution is to just convert it into a mobile app so you don’t have to recreate it.
You can check these tools for example: https://convertify.app/
https://gonative.io/
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
Although a good design goes a long way, the most frequent rejection is just a simple repackage/embed of an existing website or web app. Native features like push notifications, GPS, camera/scanner are good ways to improve acceptance to the App Store.
I personally haven’t built an iOS app in Wappler yet, I know @mebeingken built a great example that I think is now live in the App Store
Push notifications is one thing my web app doesn’t do of course. Are they easy to add to a mobile project in Wappler or does that take additional coding. Push notifications is something I would need to do. Other than that it is basically just a user login and some data filtering.
I can think of a use case where having GPS would be real cool though.
Give some thought to PWA instead of a native app. There’s some good discussion and training here in the community:
Then how do clients get the app to their devices with a PWA?
Lots of issues with caching on PWA’s. We converted a site and ended up reverting as caused a load of headaches. Read can be resolved but to be honest its not something we are desperate to provide, and its not a mobile application as the Client has requested. Sorry to be so frank about it.
I guess the most simplest way to get onto iOS is to fake an “app”, essentialy just adding an icon to the users home screen, similar to what @sitestreet suggests
Create a nice looking icon, then add the meta tags to your page
For notifications you’d be best adding a cordova plugin for that, something that can work cross device like https://www.npmjs.com/package/cordova-push-notifications
Cordova will probably be the biggest learning curve. Dave can tell you all about packaging for android. If you have a Mac packaging for iOS isn’t too difficult. There are templates available to speed things up, or you could outsource that part.
You can duplicate your Project. Replace all the Server Actions with find and replace adding the data project site name and full links to the SC API actions. Add the certificate, build with Cordova and should be done…
I should add. that I have a few years ago developed an iOS app and had it on the app store. It was built with the DMXZone extensions. It was very easy. Basically I need to recreate that app - but better. The DMXZone Dreamweaver extension was very easy to use. I was kind of hoping Wappler would be even easier. But that does not seem to be the case.
I do prefer to go the actual mobile app route. Seems more customer friendly (important) and more professional.
Actually this brings up an issue. @patrick
With Mobile Projects when you create the separate Project for the API side its then outside of the Project root (two Projects). Then using anything to do with SC file actions, upload, create a directory, etc. Are unusable. Is there any movement on allowing us to upload outside of the site root yet please?
REF:
Brad, this forum is based om a PWA. You can easily install it as an app on your phone or on your desktop. Android devices are the easiest for installation, a notification automatically shows.
For Android, you can wrap a PWA in a TWA - gives you an apk. But you have to do this outside of Wappler - it’s not too difficult, we tested the approach on of our wappler projects, it worked well. (ref https://medium.com/@stephenlai2017/how-to-turn-your-website-webapp-into-android-apk-with-twa-technology-and-publish-on-google-play-cfbe4f9bafb0)
For iOS use one of the services mentioned by @ChristopheA. And to add to that: https://goose.red
