I’m building a native mobile app with Bubble Native and need to implement a contact invitation feature. The flow I’m looking for is:
User clicks an “Invite” button in my app
Native contact picker opens (iOS/Android)
User selects a contact from their phone
Contact information (name, phone, email) gets passed back to Bubble
I can then use that data to send an invitation to join my app
What I’ve Tried So Far
I found the “Native Contacts Android” plugin in the Bubble plugin marketplace, but it’s only compatible with Bubble’s web version—it doesn’t work with Bubble Native mobile apps.
I also reached out to @ZeroqodeSupport to ask if any of their mobile plugins support this functionality, and they confirmed they don’t currently have a plugin for accessing device contacts in Bubble Native.
My Question to the Community
Has anyone found a working solution for accessing phone contacts in Bubble Native?
I need this to work on both iOS and Android. I’m specifically looking for:
A way to trigger the native contact picker
Ability to capture the selected contact’s data (name, phone, email)
Pass that information back to Bubble so I can handle the invitation logic
If you’ve implemented something similar or know of a workaround, I’d love to hear about it!
Nick, I’d love to know if this functionality is on Bubble’s roadmap for native mobile apps. Specifically:
Is native contact access being considered as a built-in feature for Bubble Native?
Has the plugin builder for Bubble Native mobile been opened to all developers yet? If so, this might be something the community could build.
Access to device contacts is a pretty common feature request for mobile apps, especially for social apps or any app with referral/invitation features. It would be amazing to have this natively supported!
Thanks in advance for any guidance or suggestions!
Thanks so much for detailing your use case and what you’ve already tried. Just to update you: we’ve reached out to our dev team again regarding the possibility of supporting native device contact access (both iOS & Android) in Bubble Native apps.
This is definitely something more users are starting to ask about.
As soon as we hear back, we’ll follow up right here with any updates or workarounds. In the meantime, if anyone else in the community has managed to get something like this working (even with custom code or a hybrid approach), your insights would be very welcome!
Thanks again for your patience and for raising such a relevant topic — we’re on it and will keep you posted!
Thank you so much for escalating this to your dev team! I really appreciate the quick response and the fact that you’re looking into this seriously.
Native contact access would be a game-changer for referral and invitation flows in Bubble Native apps, so I’m glad to hear this is being considered. Looking forward to any updates you can share!
In the meantime, if anyone in the community has found workarounds or alternative approaches for implementing contact-based invitations in Bubble Native, please share!
At the moment, there isn’t a dedicated plugin in the Bubble ecosystem (including Zeroqode) that allows Bubble Native apps to open the device’s native contact picker and fetch contact data directly back into Bubble. This is due to current technical limitations with how Bubble Native wrappers handle device APIs and permissions.
However, the closest option available right now is the Native Share Plugin, which allows you to trigger the native sharing sheet on iOS and Android. This lets your users share an invitation or link directly via their device’s contact/messaging apps, although it doesn’t fetch contact details back into your app. You can check out a demo here: Native Share Demo
We realize this isn’t a complete replacement for a full contact picker/reader, but it does enable users to quickly share invites using their native apps. If a direct contact picker integration becomes possible with future updates to Bubble Native or the wrappers, we’ll definitely look into developing such a plugin.
If you have other questions or want help implementing the Native Share plugin in your workflow, just let us know—we’re here to help!
Thanks for the detailed response and for clarifying the current limitations with Bubble Native and device APIs.
Unfortunately, the Native Share Plugin won’t work for my specific use case—I need to capture the contact data (name, phone, email) within my app to send personalized invitations programmatically, not just share a generic link through the native share sheet.
Nick, Zeroqode mentioned that these limitations are due to “current technical limitations with how Bubble Native handle device APIs and permissions.”
Could you provide some insight on Bubble’s roadmap regarding native device API access?
Specifically:
1. Is expanding device API access (like Contacts API) on Bubble Native’s roadmap?
2. Are there plans to open up more native capabilities to plugin developers?
3. If this functionality isn’t planned for the near future, what would you recommend as an alternative approach for apps that need contact-based invitation workflows?
Understanding Bubble’s direction here would really help me (and likely others) decide whether to wait for native support or explore alternative solutions now.
Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide!
Thank you for your clarification and for sharing those details—it really helps us understand your use case better. We’ve noted your feedback and will make sure to keep you posted on any updates or changes related to this topic.
If you have any further questions or thoughts, feel free to reach out anytime!
