Migrating from Native Wrapper/PWA to iOS

ivan7 · 2024-09-20T19:36:46.046Z

Hello,

I’m thinking about building the first mobile app on bubble (when they’ll launch the app platform), then build out the iOS app and migrating the users/data over.

Reason I don’t build with iOS now is because I don’t have a technical background, but I do want feedback and fast iteration so that when by the time I learn Swift the app will be polished. Basically using the bubble app as an MVP.

If someone here has migrated their Bubble Native Wrapper/PWA app to native iOS, how was your experience? What do you recommend or would do differently?

(for those wondering why not stick with bubble, I want to eventually have a watchOS app and native code is a better user experience).

sem · 2024-09-20T20:13:44.113Z

I would think about where you keep your data, where you keep your business rules and what the handover point is from front end to business rules and data (backend)

When you make the front end as dumb as possible, you will find it easier to switch later.

In stead of focusing on swift you could try a few weeks how far you can get with letting AI build the app for you. For sure you will have to read a lot but as AI can do already so much it will probably be very capable of writing for you the native mobile app.

You could use bubble as a quick mvp builder to better understand what you need and the structure you need.

ivan7 · 2024-09-20T20:24:40.705Z

The initial MVP mobile app will be built on bubble, so data will be on there. Then the idea is to export it (ofc let users know of this and of the new app, and that the old bubble app is bound to be deprecated) and have it on a new backend (something like firebase)

Regarding the coding, that’s exactly my approach with letting AI do most of the building, but I know I will still need to learn the fundamentals and not blindly rely on the generated code.

Can you elaborate on “make the front end as dumb as possible”? I already have a webapp built and the #1 request is a mobile app so now I’m diving into that now

sem · 2024-09-20T20:36:23.593Z

Dumb means not to much responsibility. Let it as much as possible only handle how it looks. Try to put logic and data separate.

ivan7 · 2024-09-20T20:42:39.468Z

I gotcha, yea the backend will only be for storing, manipulating, and querying data. The inapp actions will be frontend with swift.

Have you done this migration with any of your apps?