A Complete Guide to PhoneGap Development

Mobile app development is a vital process that must be carried out with the help of best suited mobile app development framework and software development kits.

What is PhoneGap

PhoneGap  is an extensively implemented technology for building cross-platform mobile apps which allows developers to build mobile applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This open-source mobile application development framework has been created by Nitobi Software and now known as “Adobe PhoneGap”.

With the growing demand for Android, Windows, and iOS devices, developers need to code multiple applications for different platforms. But programming identical applications for different devices can be a huge waste of time. That’s where the PhoneGap development steps in.

This is the ultimate solution for businesses interested in developing mobile apps as it allows them to utilize existing skills instead of starting from scratch with a device-specific compiled language. This is also an ideal solution for building an application that can run on multiple devices with the same codebase.

PhoneGap, formerly recognized as Apache Cordova, allows developers to build a mobile application and then wrap it in the PhoneGap framework that can be installed as a native mobile application across multiple mobile device platforms effortlessly. PhoneGap app development is significant for both business owners who are looking to develop a mobile application for their business and developers looking into developing cross-platform mobile apps rapidly and with less effort. Before digging further let’s find out what is PhoneGap development exactly.

What is PhoneGap Development? {Brief Introduction}

What is Adobe PhoneGap App Development
What is PhoneGap Development

Adobe and Apache collectively sponsor Adobe PhoneGap development which is extensively used for Android mobile app development. Adobe PhoneGap is an open-source, cross-platform app development software that builds apps with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web APIs and allows you to apply one code base, but with a different set of technologies. A PhoneGap application is a group of HTML pages surrounded in a native app shell, which is then pushed out to native platforms via native APIs. To make the development process stress-free and quicker this tool integrates numerous libraries, with existing functions and code.

Benefits of Using PhoneGap Development Framework for Developer & Business Perspective

Developers need to understand the reason why they should opt for PhoneGap development when there are so many other mobile application development frameworks out there. Well, this section will clear your doubts about the benefits that PhoneGap Development Framework holds for mobile app development.

Benefits of Adobe PhoneGap Development for Developers

1. Cost-Effectiveness

If you are on a tight budget and want to acquire maximum leverage with low investments, then PhoneGap app development is the appropriate tool for you. You can code a single program for an application to run it on multiple platforms. This will save you a lot of expenses as well as effort.

2. The Cross-platform Compatibility

Mobile application development is a burdensome process, therefore it is required for the developers to understand the mobile app development process properly and choose a reliable platform. PhoneGap is a reliable cross-platform framework and it is compatible with multiple mobile development platforms including iOS, Android, Blackberry, WebOS, Tizen, Symbian, and Bada. The PhoneGap app developers team has to write code only one, reducing the efforts to write different codes for various platforms.

3. Superior Access to Native APIs

Adobe PhoneGap offers offshore mobile app developers, better access to the Native APIs so that your mobile app can utilize a camera, geolocation, accelerometer, contacts, and all the other native features. It helps the users to get an experience of using native apps which is more superior when compared to web applications.

4. Large Community Base

If you are trying something new, then you require adequate support. The PhoneGap development community is one of the biggest communities and is increasing constantly. The developers of this community are friendly, and you will get an answer for almost every problem. There are so many skilled community members who will provide you with countless support.

5. Flexibility Using Web Technologies

Adobe PhoneGap mobile apps are developed using some simple languages like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. There is no need to learn new and complex languages when you are planning to start developing a mobile app with a PhoneGap development framework. You can use the existing languages and code programs easily. PhoneGap has been accessible for a long time now and there are loads of libraries and frameworks to support you. So, you can utilize numerous options available for better programming.

6. Strong Backend Support

PhoneGap app development has strong backend support which speeds up the development process and decreases the developer’s efforts. For novice developers, they also provide a beginners guide to understand the whole project easily.

7. Flexibility in App Development Process

The developers have excessive flexibility as the whole app development process is easy and stress-free. There is no need of putting in extra effort to complete the development process. Basic knowledge of the above-mentioned languages is sufficient to build a mobile app.

8. UI Libraries Enhancing The User Interface

It is a common problem for most mobile users to view a web page that is compatible only with tablets and computers with large screens. Scrolling down to the page and checking with it and some other tasks will engage in a lot of effort and one won’t be able to access the pages easily. But utilizing the UI libraries present in PhoneGap, the user interface of the mobile apps and web pages are highly enhanced. This contributes to providing a superior viewing experience for different targeted viewers.

These are some of the remarkable features of PhoneGap development that make it the best choice for developers and easy to describe to the clientele. These features have made PhoneGap one of the finest android frameworks for application development out there in the extremely competitive technology space. Adding to it, let’s take a look at the benefits of PhoneGap for businesses.

Benefits of PhoneGap Development for Business

If you are a business owner then you should definitely think about using the PhoneGap development framework for your mobile application development projects. The main problem with the mobile application development process is to choose the right platform. There are multiple platforms that you can utilize and develop your mobile application.

The iPhone market share is dropping and Android and Windows are rising nowadays. A couple of years back iPhone development was the first choice of platform to roll in your mobile application. Not so long ago. What do you do? Develop 3 native apps as well as a Desktop version for your business application? That would be too expensive.

Generally, if you wanted to have an application for more than one of the leading mobile platforms, you need to develop a separate application for each one. This is because each of the major mobile platforms has its specific coding language. Occasionally mobile app designs and user interfaces can be reused, but codes cannot be so.

PhoneGap development can save a lot of time and money because you are basically developing the app once rather than making some changes and modifications to get it to work smoothly on multiple platforms. PhoneGap makes the process more effective by applying the idea of developing once and deploying everywhere.

It helps you to develop and publish your application through multiple mobile platforms quickly and without a lot of effort. Efforts that could have gone into developing the same application for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows, WebOS, Symbian, and Bada. PhoneGap app development process saves you a lot of time, money, and extra effort.

Also Read: Top 4 Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks


Advantages of PhoneGap Development

Advantages of Adobe PhoneGap mobile app Development
Advantages of PhoneGap Development

Easy Deployment of Apps

Everyone knows as of now that PhoneGap is a cross-platform framework. This is the very first advantage of this development framework. You can develop an app for one platform and then deploy it on several other platforms with ease. The whole process won’t take much time and you will be able to do more work in a small amount of time and with less effort.

Maintains Consistency Irrespective of the Platform

Every business struggles to have a constant existence across all the platforms when they start. An app designed and developed for the iOS platform looks different in Android and the app designed for Android may look different in Blackberry and Windows operating systems. But the apps that are developed in PhoneGap will look similar on any other platform. This is another remarkable advantage of PhoneGap app development.

No Need to Hire Professional Developers

Every company needs to save some bucks in their business. Hiring skilled and experienced developers isn’t an easy job. They charge you a whole lot of money. But with PhoneGap, any developer with decent knowledge of languages like CSS3, HTML and JavaScript are more than enough to develop apps that are as good as native apps. Although they are not as effective as compared with the native apps, however, they are better when compared to the web ones.

Apps Developed on PhoneGap Act Like Native Apps

The apps act like native apps when they are capable of tapping into the smartphone and use the features like geo-location, camera, accelerometer, etc. This framework taps into the hardware capabilities and delivers outstanding UX meanwhile in the process. It gives the finest experience to the users who will barely know that the app has been developed and executed on a cross-platform base.

Open Source

PhoneGap is an open-source platform which means it is noticeably free to use. Anyone with minimum developing knowledge can get their hands on this development platform and learn many new things. There is a large community of developers who will ready to guide you in the development process. You can have a look at PhoneGap beginner’s videos and even get suggestions from some of the developers present in the community when you are planning to build an app on this platform.

Backed up by Powerful Sources

PhoneGap is backed up and powered by Apache Cordova and it is now a part of Adobe. Since this development framework is backed up by the best sources, it makes the whole framework reliable. It offers some of the tools and other remarkable features which help the PhoneGap developers in the long run. With the help of AEM mobile, the developers will be able to match all the actions of their apps from a single place. You will be able to test and preview the changes that you make on the app by utilizing this AEM.

Easy to Work Plugins

PhoneGap build is compatible with various Cordova and PhoneGap plugins. Developers can extend the native functionalities by building an app on the PhoneGap framework.


Disadvantages Of PhoneGap Development Framework

PhoneGap Doesn’t support Plugins Containing Hooks

PhoneGap’ major drawback or disadvantage is that it won’t support the plugins with hooks, and this can hamper the functionality. There are hooks in WordPress that help the developers in writing their code with the core codebase, themes, and plugins in WordPress. Similarly, PhoneGap app development doesn’t support the plugins that have hooks.

Not Suitable for Gaming Apps

PhoneGap is a platform that is designed to build simple applications. It failed to deliver gaming apps and isn’t appropriate to develop such apps because they freeze and have drop issues when any notification comes from their apps.

Need Mac to Develop iOS apps

PhoneGap needs iOS SDKs and it is impossible to develop an app without these SDKs. Downloading these SDKs needs a Mac. PhoneGap developers won’t be able to build an app without Mac.

Also know: How to Fix “SDK emulator directory is missing” Error in Android Studio

Outdated Plugins

There are so many conditions when the plugins that you have used are outdated and aren’t working proficiently. This situation can hamper the whole project completely. You may understand this halfway into the project and it may produce some disastrous results too.


Popular Mobile Apps Developed In the PhoneGap Development Framework

Mobile Apps Built On cross-platform PhoneGap development Framework
Mobile Apps Built On PhoneGap Framework

Here we have described some of the popular mobile apps developed in the PhoneGap development framework and have been providing an admirable user experience.

  • Wikipedia

This free encyclopedia app has been used by various people across the world. It is designed and developed on the PhoneGap app development framework and the app works like the native applications.

  • DHS Program

This can be considered as big data for small screen devices. It stands for the Demographic and Health Survey program. The app has been built by Adobe and delivers data associated with health and survey data.

  • Paylution

Paylution assists in making international payments with ease. Hyperwallet technology is integrated into this app for making payments. This app is a great replacement for making payments rather than wiring or writing cheques.

  • TripCase

TripCase is a smart mobile app that assists users when they are on their trips. It is one of the smartest apps designed and developed on Adobe PhoneGap.

Also know: Popular Truck Booking Apps


Conclusion

In today’s digital world, most businesses want their occurrence through various platforms and they want mobile apps that can reach to maximum people. The PhoneGap framework is the best bet for building mobile apps that are cross-platform compatible in a timely fashion and that are cost-effective because the framework uses a single code base to develop an application for many mobile devices.

When it comes to developing multiple native apps that do not include heavily-built graphics and animations and that do not use the native features of an operating system, PhoneGap is a perfect choice for you. Explorate Global is a top-rated PhoneGap application development company in the USA from where you hire PhoneGap developers to turn your business idea into a handy one. We provide the best custom PhoneGap development services to help you stand tall in this evolving digital market.

2 thoughts on “A Complete Guide to PhoneGap Development

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get a Quote

Get in touch with us to request a quote for your business or project idea.

Please enter a vaild name.
Please enter a valid email address.
Please enter a country code.
Please enter a phone number.
Please enter a company name.
Please select a value!
Please select a value!
Please enter a message.