Ionic Capacitor: Unleashing the Power of Cross-Platform App Development
What is Ionic Capacitor: An Overview
Ionic Capacitor is an open source project (you can find the code here) that lets you deploy modern web applications natively on iOS, Android, Electron and the Web. This indicates that developers have the advantage of utilizing the web libraries and tools they are already familiar with to write code, which can later be used to effortlessly create applications that work seamlessly on both the web and mobile devices.
It was introduced in 2018 by the team behind the Ionic UI Framework and their initial goal was to replace Cordova. Despite Cordova being an older tool in the cross-platform app development field, Capacitor provides support for it and according to their current documentation, they don’t plan to stop doing so in the future.
The way platforms like Capacitor and Cordova work is by utilizing a Web View. A Web View is a component that displays web content within an application. It acts as a container for the web code, providing an environment where the web-based application can run. This means that if the application runs without problems on the web, it will most probably run smoothly natively on the phone too.
Why Capacitor: A Crucial Tool for Mobile App Development
Capacitor makes it easy for web developers to enter the mobile app market without any prior knowledge of programming languages like Kotlin (or Java) and Swift (or C#), that are needed to develop software for Android and iOS respectively. The developers can use the libraries, frameworks and any other tools they already know in order to create their web app and then deploy it with little to no modifications as a mobile application.
Capacitor also provides the possibility to bridge native code with JavaScript code to expand the functionalities an application can have. This implies the close cooperation of web developers and mobile app developers and the significant elevation of the whole application in general. It is also convenient that a Capacitor app can be debugged like any other native app. Developers can directly utilize the wealth of iOS and Android-specific sources of information, without the need for translation through an abstraction layer like Cordova.
Capacitor apps are also considered to be fast. A test conducted by LogRocket shows that Capacitor apps are 10% faster than React Native apps and 20% faster than Flutter apps.
Key Features
Access to Native APIs
As mentioned before, Capacitor provides a unified API layer that allows developers to easily access native device features, such as the camera, geolocation, file system and more just by using JavaScript. This enables feature-rich hybrid applications that make use of the full potential of the device’s software and hardware.
Live Reload
Live reload is one of the most convenient tools during the development of a project. Instead of deploying a new binary every time you change your code, it automatically reloads the browser or the Web View when it detects changes.
Plugins
There is an ecosystem of plugins that provide Capacitor with great native features. Recently, the team of Capacitor introduced a Plugin Registry (2), a centralized repository of plugins that aims to save the time and effort of developers that is being put towards searching for the right plugin. As of July 2023 the registry has 1100 compatible plugins with Capacitor projects, most of which are community contributions. Capacitor has 26 core plugins, including splash screen, local notifications and cookies.
Progressive Web Apps Support
Capacitor apps can be packaged as PWAs, which means that the apps can be installed on user’s devices and accessed offline.
Conclusion
Ionic Capacitor is a relatively new tool that is changing the way mobile applications are developed and maintained. It has entered the field of cross-platform app development in order to fix the issues its predecessor Cordova has and make the work of building an app much easier.
The project is well maintained and updated regularly as we can see from the picture below showcasing the commit activity of the Capacitor repository in GitHub. Regularly new updates are introduced, issues are fixed and plugins are created.
It seems like Ionic Capacitor will eventually become the de facto tool of hybrid app development and ease the process for good. Now it’s the time to start exploring its many possibilities and use it in your projects!
References
- Ionic Team, Capacitor (GitHub), <https://github.com/ionic-team/capacitor/graphs/commit-activity>
- Ionic Team, Capacitor-Plugin-Registry (GitHub), <https://github.com/ionic-team/capacitor-plugin-registry>
- Max Lynch, 22 May 2019, How Capacitor Works , <https://ionic.io/blog/announcing-capacitor-1-0>
