Still able to publish Phonegap Build app at the App Store / Google Play

Question

I am currently investigating the possible to build a html webpage connecting cgi. Then, I use Phonegap to render the html pages into native apps. A few years ago, someone can release the app on the App market.

I have seen that app with pages including Webview cannot be published. So I would like to ask this possibility.

Of course any information about that would be very helpful!

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Your question is interesting because it is a problem that hybrid developers regularly face.

Normally on the side of Google there is no problem because the GooglePlayStore imposes very little, so it's fine for mobile applications.

On the Apple side it's more complicated because the concerns come from a series of points in the apple guidline.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

The first point was added in 2009 and is still relevant:

Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. [ … ]

This is understood as follows: Your application must not be a simple website but must have a minimum of functionality requiring the native, such as gps or photo taking.

Then in 2014

there was the integration into the iOS SDK of Webkit and the end of UIWebView which was used by Cordova.

In apps that run in iOS 8 and later, use the WKWebView class instead of using UIWebView. Additionally, consider setting the WKPreferences property javaScriptEnabled to false if you render files that are not supposed to run JavaScript.

Cordova has made the necessary changes to continue to operate.

But the biggest problem is that the day Apple says stop, Webview is over, cordova can't do anything about it.

To sum up, today no worries on Google and Apple but the future is uncertain so if you are thinking about what technology it used, considered the native.

(I'm telling you this but I have more than 15 cordova applications in production on Google store and Apple store...)