JavaScript has entirely changed the way we develop websites. Whether you use a user-interface framework like Express, Angular or Next – just pure JS – building an impressive web app has never been that easy! Perhaps you have a growing and successful brand and are seeking a reliable mobile apps development agency and good opportunities to expand. Our reliable route is to take your business brand to the Google Play and Apple App Store. To convert an existing JavaScript web application to mobile applications is a compelling task, but this write-up will surely help with the easiest way to get the job done.

The underlying technologies support each other; there is nothing like magical “conversion” from one platform to another. You can either package that existing JavaScript web application in a native container or create a hybrid app that communicates with the web backend.

Let’s get started,

Why It’s Beneficial to Convert JS Web App to Native Mobile Applications?

JavaScript is a robust and versatile programming technology. It is easy to use and get started with, has a relatively lesser development time, and produces impressive web apps. Following are the main reasons why it is beneficial to create mobile applications for it?

Provide An Effective Mobile UX

Converting your existing JavaScript web app into native mobile applications enables you to meet the expectations of modern consumers and provide them with an effective mobile US via a more enclosed, less distracting environment and a direct route through a single click on their mobile home screens.

Reach More Number of Users

Thanks to a combo of marketing and ease-of-use, most users on smartphones access the virtual world via dedicated applications. Smartphone applications offer a quite streamlined experience that can help you retain users more effectively than a web application.

Push Notifications

Push notifications provide you with a direct line of communication with your fans – far more efficient than social media, email or any other channel. You can also use push notifications to create deeper connections with your users, notify them of crucial information, and promote special offers or products.

How to Convert a JS Web App Into Native Mobile Applications

JavaScript is a programming technology built for the web. Things like accessing the native API of mobile platforms are not a crucial part of its standard functionality.

Web technologies work impressively from those that power mobile apps. That’s why converting a JS web app to a mobile application isn’t that simple. When building a web app, you don’t have to use nitty-gritty details of how all the web pages will be rendered onto the screen or how to inspect user input.

Converting a JS web app to Android or iOS is not an easy task in general. It’s doable, though. We are going to look at some promising techniques, then introduce our solution to the issue- Canvas- so that you can build an informed decision about what’s correct for you.

Conversion of JavaScript Web App to Mobile App 

Using a Web View/Wrapper

Based on the implementation, the most straightforward way of building a web application on mobile is by wrapping it in a mobile browser-like container app that renders your JavaScript and HTML website as it is. Such an application is just a “container” running your web application in a web view.

Although it’s one of the most accessible options, building one is not an easy task.

Let’s take an example of Android, where you must create a native application in Android Studio. While you don’t require implementing the entire suite of functionalities in Java or Kotlin, you have to set up the web view and allow JavaScript.

In addition, many JavaScript functions don’t translate well to the native platform and must be interfaced with Android code to work efficiently.

It requires basic Android development skills and in-depth knowledge of how web view apps work. You will also require adequate experience in WebKit CSS to perform format modifications in the app.

After all this, you only get the Android edition of your app.

The entire process for iOS is quite similar. You will require a mobile application development company to build a web view app in objective-C technology and configure some components to make your JS app play nice with it.

Certain functionalities of JavaScript are known to not work too well in iOS, so be ready for a potentially time-consuming and debugging process.

And even after all this, it won’t exactly be an application.

A web view displays a webpage without any navigational or visual enhancement, building for a poor UX. Also, a basic wrapper like it also lacks common native functionalities such as analytics or push notifications.

While you can implement the various features with dedicated native development, it will result in costly development.

Rather than the DIY method, you can use Canvas, which is also based on the “wrapper” principle.

Using Ionic & Cordova

Instead of building separate web views of your application for iOS and Android, another option is to build a hybrid solution that can work across the various platforms.

It can be done with the help of Cordova plugins along with a front-end framework like Ionic.

Cordova is an effective solution to link your web code to the native API. This significant approach saves you from building separate interfaces for iOS and Android in their respective development environments.

After all the backend code is rebuilt with Cordova plugins, all that is required is to create a front-end native application to work with this codebase. Ionic is a crucial option for this, as it is cross-platform and is commonly used in conjunction with Cordova.

This technique works well and is relatively quicker than the previous option. You will have to hire a mobile applications development company to build a hybrid app in Ionic and then prepare your web code by using Cordova to fit into it.

Wrapping Up

We hope this whole write-up has given you a clear idea of what it takes to convert a JavaScript web application to a mobile application. No doubt, Canvas is the most simple and effective route, especially in the case of your web app. Your next step should be: put your best efforts into converting your web app to a mobile app.