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Apache Cordova vs J2ObjC: What are the differences?
What is Apache Cordova? Platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
What is J2ObjC? Java to iOS Objective-C translation tool and runtime used by Google Inbox to share 70% of its code across Android, iOS, and Web. J2ObjC is an open-source command-line tool from Google that translates Java code to Objective-C for the iOS (iPhone/iPad) platform. This tool enables Java code to be part of an iOS application's build, as no editing of the generated files is necessary. The goal is to write an app's non-UI code (such as data access, or application logic) in Java, which is then shared by web apps (using GWT), Android apps, and iOS apps.
Apache Cordova and J2ObjC belong to "Cross-Platform Mobile Development" category of the tech stack.
"Lots of plugins" is the top reason why over 31 developers like Apache Cordova, while over 3 developers mention "Backed by Google" as the leading cause for choosing J2ObjC.
Apache Cordova and J2ObjC are both open source tools. It seems that J2ObjC with 5.47K GitHub stars and 771 forks on GitHub has more adoption than Apache Cordova with 766 GitHub stars and 327 GitHub forks.
I would like to evaluate a good option to migrate an existing WordPress portal, where the customer can continue to access the news and also have a private area where they can receive personalised information and can demand or interact with the company and also have mobile support on both iOS and Android.
Currently the whole back system is in SAP and my main doubts are;
- Best solution for the web portal that can generate content and can render well in the mobile solution.
- Best option for the mobile implementation of the same portal and its private area ( React Native?)
I think that React Native or Vue Native is the best choice for modern cross-platform mobile applications. And both of these frameworks have a large community. Apache Cordova was the pioneer in this way. We used it in projects in 2014. Ionic is also an old tool and in 2014 it was based at Apache Cordova. I don't think that it has so a big community like React Native or Vue Native.
For a web system, React or Vue is a good and modern choice too.
No shade on the hard work of/on Ionic and Cordova over the years, but they are not the future and you will be going down a dead-end for maintainability going forward. React Native is an excellent bridge for any pre-existing JavaScript/TypeScript skills you might already have from web development.
Flutter is worth considering as a close second but I would recommend RN for the above reasons. Also consider using Expo to ease your build process.
Heya, I'm very new on here! And I hope I can get advice on this matter :
We are working on a new app. The web version is on Sails.js (V1)/node.js/vue.js. Started with the Web App default settings (including login and payments, which we are using use). We started with a web version to give access to the customer to start creating the data while building the mobile version. (iOS and Android)
I heard of Apache Cordova, that using the same JavaScript/css could be used to not re-code the front-end of the app for iPhones and Androids. I've been told that it is end-of-life now (? - I couldn't find this info myself).
I saw that Vue Native might be an alternative and would only need a few adjustments from our web version as we are using Vue.js for the frontend.
I know next to nothing on this, so I would really appreciate it if you guys could point me to possible solutions you've used and why instead of searching through all the existing solutions. (I'm very open to know if there are alternatives to those two too !!)
We will need to be using the GPS functions of the mobiles, which is a big part of the app.
Thank you!
i don't have any experience with the vue native what so ever but i think Quasar and Ionic are the best options for an HTML/CSS/JS based mobile app ionic has full support of vue and quasar is built on vue you may have to change some configurations in your project files
I wanted to develop a student app that possibly could be used by many teams (students from other schools)
I chose Ionic, because:
single codebase: previously, we used React Native for Android and Angular for web/PWA, which was troublesome
portability: runs on PWA (which is important, because iOS license is too expensive for school app), web, Android iOS (+ others, if needed)
full use of web technologies: Next.js, Tailwind, React in this example (in oppose to Flutter/Java/Kotlin)
stability and maintainability: low-entry level due to basic web technologies without new syntax (in oppose to React Native and Flutter), web is really stable and won't lose support (which doesn't have to be true with Flutter/Dart)
I've yet to see a non-native application that I felt performed as well and/or provided the same user experience with Cordova/PhoneGap/Xamarin. Frankly, at best they all seemed like underpowered web applications deployed to a sandbox that ran on a phone. They didn't feel "slick" or "mobile-first" and in some cases the performance was unacceptable. At previous companies, we built a few of these apps at the client's insistence, and in every case, they re-engaged us about 18 months later to re-write the app(s) natively.
We are doing some research on React Native and Flutter, but I am not yet convinced that they can provide the same level of experience and performance as native, though I am trying to keep an open mind.
Angular
Apache Cordova
CSS 3
Ionic
JavaScript+2 more
Android SDK
NativeScript
React
Swift
Vue.jsAs a startup, we need the maximum flexibility and the ability to reach our customers in a more suitable way. So a hybrid application approach is the best because it allows you to develop a cross-platform application in a unique codebase. The choice behind Ionic is Angular, I think that angular is the best framework to develop a complex application that needs a lot of service interaction, its modularity forces you (the developer) to write the code in the correct way, so it can be maintainable and reusable.
I've done some Hybrid Mobile apps with both technologies Apache Cordova and React Native and described my experience in my blog.
In a few words, I would suggest to use each technology in accordance what what is your current code base and what do you want to achieve.
React Native is a great option if you need that extra edge in performance with multi-threading and native UI rendering. Or you already have a web app based on React which you want to port to mobile.
On the other hand, if you have an existing web application code and you want to reuse some or all, including the ability to use web third-party libraries, then Cordova is the best option.
Proguard?
ProGuard is the most popular optimizer for Java bytecode. It makes your Java and Android applications up to 90% smaller and up to 20% faster. ProGuard also provides minimal protection against reverse engineering by obfuscating the names of classes, fields and methods.
How to use it inCordova app?
I didn't find any plugins for it. So I've implemented it by myself and shared it on GitHub.
Feel free to use!
Pros of Apache Cordova
- Lots of plugins48
- JavaScript35
- Great community26
- Easy Development25
- Easy to learn18
- Cross platform15
- Open Source7
- Easy, fast, not buggy in my experience with my code6
- Lots of descendants; PhoneGap, Ionic, Intel XDA etc6
- Can use CSS34
- Rich HTML 54
- Easy debugging4
- HTML, CSS and JS3
- Fast and hot reload3
- Rich css ui3
- Use what you code in your browser3
- Need a light system2
- Native Web Technologies2
- Without extra tooling needed2
- One code base everywhere2
Pros of J2ObjC
- Backed by Google4
- Made it possible to quickly port a hardware driver1
- Access to existing Java libraries1
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Cons of Apache Cordova
- No native performance2
- Hard to install1
- Hard to install0
Cons of J2ObjC
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