Pages on Native Apps

I’m trying to build out a native mobile app on the bubble builder, and I checked the box that says “I’m building a native app” and it suggested that I don’t switch pages but rather use groups that are either displayed or hidden.

That makes sense – I assume it has to do with the speed? Maybe it takes longer to load a new page.

But I was wondering, because I just started, is it advisable/ok to do like the log in and sign up page as it’s own page, and then have them redirected to the main page of the app where everything else is?

Hey @jakemstrauss

I think that’s a great approach. You typically want your login page to be super light and load quickly so it’s good to have this set aside as it’s own page. In reality, once people login they are probably going to just close the page when they’re done and then still be logged in next time they come back to your app. So the number of times they actually hit the login screen is pretty minimal.

Then the rest of your app sits on one page and you can URL parameters or a plugin like Sudsy to dynamically drive groups on the page to hide/show. Naturally this is going to take a moment to load the first time if there’s a lot of juicy details :grinning: but it’ll be quick after that if you set it up right.


Josh @ Support Dept
Helping no-code founders get unstuck fast :rocket:save hours, & ship faster with an expert :man_technologist: on-demand

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Thanks Josh, super helpful answer!

I have a follow up question. Does it ultimately matter – for when I’m eventually uploading my app to the App Store – if I build my app on the index page? Or does it not matter which page I use?

Not a problem!

So my understanding of that checkbox for mobile apps is it just switches off the responsiveness of the page. It doesn’t really do anything else beyond that, or at least if it does it’s nothing major.

In terms of getting your app on the App Store. So there is no process to directly get your Bubble app on to the App stores. Bubble will help you create a web app that can be run in a browser on mobile devices, but not a native mobile app.

There are some third-party solutions that help you ‘wrap’ a Bubble mobile optimised website so you can submit it to the app stores but you don’t get a native application. Sorry if you may have thought otherwise - I know it’s a bit misleading on Bubble’s part.

If you want to explore wrapping a Bubble app - there are a bunch of solutions. One I’ve personally looked into is https://thebdk.com but I’ve only done some initial tests.

If you’re looking to build a native app in code then you might like to look at other no-code builders that focus on native apps.


Josh @ Support Dept
Helping no-code founders get unstuck fast :rocket:save hours, & ship faster with an expert :man_technologist: on-demand

Thanks again for the response, super helpful!

So yeah, this issue is something I’ve been deliberating on for a while now. I was considering using AppGyver, but it being a newer platform than bubble, the resources and forums where I could learn (like this one!) were more limited.

So I read about things like thebdk plug-in and other wrappers like that that could essentially imitate a native mobile app, and decided that for what I’m working on that made the most sense. Ultimately, I’m just looking to get a working proof of concept that can support a small user base.

Do you think I’ll be able to get something that effectively mimics a native app using thebdk? I read through their documentation, and they allow access to the things I’m looking to use (i.e. gps data, notifications, and that’s really it besides being able to download something that resembles an app from the App Store) Do all those things sound possible using these tools? Or am I missing a key piece?

In other words, what CAN’T I accomplish using plug-ins and Bubble if my goal is just what I stated above? Thanks again Josh, super helpful!

I think it really comes down to what your app needs to do to whether you’ll be able to get a good experience with a wrapped web app. If the things you are trying to accomplish don’t generally work nicely (though they may still work) and are a bit clunky in a browser then it’s going to be a similar experience with your wrapped bubble app.

It’s a hard question to answer on the surface because it’s often not a case of whether you can do something or not. You can achieve most things with a web app in a mobile browser, it’s just whether the experience is good enough.

The way I help clients decide on the right path to take is by listing out what is the core purpose of the app and the key things people are going to be doing say 80% of the time. You can then do an assessment on whether those things function well in a web browser or not - and for this you can often look to the mobile sites of similar apps. It’s not always a great reference as they may not have bothered to optimize their mobile site if they have native apps, but it’s a starting point.

Then you will be left with a laundry list of things of features that you need from your app that users will interact with a lot less frequently, and for those things you just need to be sure that there is a pathway to building them, and even if the experience isn’t gold plated it’s probably less of a concern if they’re not crucial parts of your app, and you can live with it.

For instance, someone posted on the forum recently wanting to use Bubble to build an app for miners that would be offline beneath the ground. For something like this I’d say - yeah you can do it, there is ways to make your app still function to a certain degree offline, but it’s clunky to build and probably use, so if your users are going to be using it in an offline state 80%+ of the time I’d say look for another solution.

Same goes for if you were building anything that required frequent use of the camera - such as an instagram clone, video conferencing, barcode/QR code scanner. You can build apps in a browser that tick all the boxes but the user experience is always going to be sub par vs. a native app.

On the other hand if you’re building an app that has recipes and workout guides and blog style content. There’s a pathway to building something like that with Bubble that the average user would probably never pick up that it was just a wrapped web app.

Sorry - a long winded response. But often the devil is in the detail so I thought it was worth exploring.


Josh @ Support Dept
Helping no-code founders get unstuck fast :rocket:save hours, & ship faster with an expert :man_technologist: on-demand

Thanks again for the response, you’re right the details were super helpful and I think it answered my question. Thanks so much Josh!

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