Difference between Bubble mobile and other hybrid app platform

Questions
1

What is the difference between developing a mobile app on Bubble compared to developing a hybrid app on another platform?

2

I’m completely talking out of my rear end here, but I would gather that building a mobile app in Bubble probably consists of taking your app and wrapping it in something like Cordova, essentially making it a Hybrid app. Someone who has done this may have better insight, but seeing that Bubble spits out HTML, I would wager that’s how it works.

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3

I’m completely talking out of my rear end here, but I would gather that building a mobile app in Bubble probably consists of taking your app and wrapping it in something like Cordova, essentially making it a Hybrid app. Someone who has done this may have better insight, but seeing that Bubble spits out HTML, I would wager that’s how it works.

This.

4

Hi Raymod,

Can you please make your question more specific? What do you mean by hybrid? What platforms do you have in mind? Developing with Bubble is very different in that it is visual, so beyond that, what specific details about the development process are you trying to understand?

5

Sure.

I’m looking at appypie for instance. Their platform pushes out a hybrid app code and not native app code. According to some forums developing a hybrid app is better than a native app because it’s ready for cross platform store submission.

I’ve never done a native app so I’m trying to understand the process but I’m also sitting with a client that insists to have their app launched in IOS & Android stores simultaneously.

I understand Bubble is visual, and I love it, but so also is appypie. I would prefer to develop my clients app on Bubble than on another platform.

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@georgeciobanu I’ve refrased my question and have more details but had no feedback. Can you perhaps give some feedback?

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@potentialthings @natedogg a hybrid app consists of HTML , CSS & Javascript. Can that be extracted from Bubble.is for Cordova?

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I would imagine so. There is a Bubble app on the iOS app store right now, and I know several other people have gone through the process. I might consider sending a ticket to the support email address if you’re ready to, that’s how they seem to prefer to handle the mobile-exports.

10

Thanks for the reply. I have an Android phone so I can’t have a look at the iOS app. Do you know in what language the code is that we receive from Bubble for the native app? I originally sent support a mail but they asked me to post the question on the forum because it’s a broad topic and others can benefit from it.

What I’m trying to establish is if we can get the code and then work through somebody like Cordova. The nice thing about hybrid apps is that it is cross platform so you develop once only. It can be submitted to both app stores simultaneously and it can be installed on a phone just like a native app. Well that’s how I understand it anyway.

11

Creating a mobile app with Bubble consists of building a mobile web page and then displaying that page in a Cordova webview using Phonegap Build.

It actually is HTML/CSS/JS based, but Bubble doesn’t provide access to the underlying code. (It would kind of defeat the purpose of the platform if they did, right? :wink:)

While you can definitely deploy to the iOS store with the resources that Bubble provides you, if you want to deploy to Android, you’ll need to use either a 3rd party service or Android Studio to get the job done. Plenty of free/paid options out there.

Since you said you have an android device, here’s an example of an Android app I created using Bubble: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.gonative.android.yooxm

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Thanks Nate. I will have a look at it. The problem lies with my client. Originally they only wanted a web app then they added the mobile app. Now they decided they want native apps and they want Android to be launched simultaneously with iOS. I stand to loose a deal that I’ve put over 200 hours (not all development)

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What platform did you use for the Android app and does it use the Bubble database?

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Any app created using Bubble will use the database, as it’s just a web page being displayed in an app.

For this app, I used https://gonative.io/.

It’s a good option if you need to deploy your app quickly and you have the extra cash for it. (Maybe you could include it in your client’s quote?)

If you have the time and would rather save the money, I’d search on Youtube for Android Studio tutorials. That method isn’t super complicated either.

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Thanks. I’ll let you know.Does your Android app use the Bubble database?

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Was it smooth to use GoNative?

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@raymond Yes

@emmanuel Smooth indeed! Setup took about 15 mins, and the app store approval process took 2 hours.

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18

Thanks Nate. I asked the question before I saw how it works. With our exchange rate it’s darn expensive but darn cool. Would like it if we could do it ourselves through Bubble :wink:

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Man that GoNative looks really cool. A bit pricey yes, but a pretty sweet package.

  • It uses Push notifications with OneSignal as well; which would likely make triggering a push notif from a bubble block pretty simple.
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And the quality is good? We actually know the guys behind Gonative.

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I just ran the application on my Samsung Galaxy S6. There are some slight performance hiccups, but it seems to work pretty well considering the hoops necessary to package it all up.