Wrapping the Bubble web-app in Phonegap (Instead of the native app)

Hi guys,

I´ve been reading through all of the existing threads which all very much seem to focus on developing a native app with Bubble. However, wíth our project we´re currently at a stage in which we want to wrap our bubble app into an hybrid app using GoNative or Phonegap.

Because of the pricing at GoNative, I was wondering what the possibillities are beyond marking the ´this is a native app´ box and just wrap the whole app into a wrapper such that it becomes basically a hybrid app. This would mean we can still use the page navigation instead of the showing or hiding of apps for example.

Then there´s also the problem of the push notifications for the native bubble apps. Would this same problem exist for the hybrid app I would like to develop as wel, or would it be very much possible to develop a hybrid app like this and use push notifications?

Furthermore, what are your opinions on all of this, is it worth paying the ± $700 at GoNative to just get it over with, or is there really an added valúe beyond the saving of the money to wrap the app using a service as GoNative.

Since we will be launching our app in three different countries, speaking different languages, we want to multiply the app. Using GoNative this would mean spending ± $2100 in total. How difficult is it to multiply the app using Phonegap?

I´m really interseted in the opinions and experiences of everyone to make a solid decision before getting in over my head with something like Phonegap. Thanks!

Timon

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To be clear, there is no “native” solution for Bubble. Every method right now involves turning your webapp into a hybrid app, exactly as you’ve outlined.

There are several forum threads about how to use Phonegap, and @natedogg has a course available that shows you how to wrap your Bubble app. It’s also worth noting that Bubble’s mobile functionality is not production-ready, meaning it’s a “use at your own risk” type set up. I only bring this up because I see many posts where people are complaining about Bubble’s mobile app performance, which is like complaining that Michael Jordan is a lousy baseball player.

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I did do a post about this before, however it maybe worth checking out something like www.construct.net or www.scirra.com. These are game engines primarily but could be used with the API features of bubble to create a mobile interface that interacts with your data. This way you could make use of native mobile features quite easily and also specifically develop the interface for the mobile platform. Its all visual as well (not as easy as wrapping it in a phonegap wrapper of the existing site mind you, but probably gives you a bit more flexibility).

Construct is an HTML5 based engine, so you’re still ending up with a hybrid application. I use Construct for my game dev, it’s fantastic but still not native :slight_smile:

Yep sorry I didn’t mean for it to come across as a native app it’s not. However you could make a mobile optimised version with offline capabilities using construct rather than wrapping the actual bubble web app.

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Depends of your needs, - Jasonette - can be the tool you need, and easy to configure. Free. Access to video, audio, calendar, contacts… you can build a nice native app and hybrid if needed. (EDIT)

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Jasonette is actually a native solution. The author built Java and Objective-C application shells that contain the logic and components you’ll need, and you’re “instructing” the app on what it should be using .json files. It’s a really clever solution! Was hoping someone would build a visual builder for it at some point.

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@potentialthings I heard that the developer of Jasonette is looking to build a visual builder.
@Timon please look at this http://docs.jasonette.com/

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Hey WIlliam thanks a lot! Already looked into it and downloading Android Studio as we speak. I´ll put my findings here in this threat later but for now thanks a lot!

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Up until now I had some troubles using the wrapper. I did get it wrapped and all which was pretty straightforward. Using the app however I now receive a message from bubble that cookies are disabled, preventing me from being able to use login and logout functions on the app.

Furthermore, somehow the top 10% of my screen isn[t clickable for whatever reason.

Lastly the booting of the app itself still takes around 12-15 seconds, which was actually nothing different of GoNative.