iPhone/Android webapp wrapper

Question

I work at a large company that is looking at building apps for internal use only (iPhone/iPad). We are looking for a SIMPLE way of creating apps that essentially are just a web browser with a predefined URL and no address bar/tabs, etc. Essentially a very dumbed down browser with a custom logo. What is the easiest way to accomplish this?

We would obviously be distributing these oursevlves and they wouldn't be available in the App Store, so app guidelines aren't an issue. We are on Windows boxes and are Java/Web developers so we'd rather not get into too much C sharp if at all possible, fyi. Basically it'd be nice if the tool (if one exists), were to allow us to give it a URL, an icon image, and it builds the app from there.

And while we are starting out with Apple devices, we need to be cross platform compliant with whatever tools we use because I can imagine the day when they decide to buy Android or WindowsPhone devices later on.

MobiOne? PhoneGap? Appcelerator Titanium SDK? Can either of these do what we need? Something else?

Answer 1

A big 'No' for MobiOne. I bought it for 99 dollars. As they advertised, I was able to create a static app within hours. But that's pretty much what MobiOne can do. The moment you start using html, javascript or even audio, all sorts of problem seem to creep up. And there is no support in their forums either. My basic question about using the audio player remains unanswered for a month now.

Here is the worst part: The tool has a poorly built emulator. Often times, my app worked fine in the emulator but failed to run when deployed to a real device. And at times, i have seen the vice versa too.

Since then, I switched over to PhoneGap(which is free). It took me 2 days to just set my environment right. But once I had the environment setup, it took only minutes to deploy my app in to a virtual device.

Looking at your requirement, I would say that your safe bet is PhoneGap.

I don't have a working knowledge in Titanium but I read in a lot of forums that it supports less platforms when compared to PhoneGap. Titanium seems to give a more native feel to the app but that also means you cannot port it to multiple platforms without changing the code.

Answer 2

Apple may reject your app if all it does is wrap a web site in a WebView. You need to have more functionality in your app than just loading a web page.

From the app review guidelines for iOS:

2.12 Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected

You would need to add additional screens to the app like an about page and a contact us page in order for your app not to be rejected.

As you say you know JavaScript, look into appcelerator.com it allows you to build cross platform apps and only writing your code once.

Answer 3

I would re-evaluate your reason for wanting to create these projects as an app in the first place. What app functionality do you want that you don't have now with your web page? You didn't mention anything in your question that would indicate this needs to be an app.

On Apple devices, you could create an icon that points to a web site. You could define the pages in a way that hides the address bar. Lastly, the web pages could easily be cross-platform already.

Wrapping this into an app would just possibly complicate the process. You may need to deploy updated app code to the device, where a refresh in a browser works just as well.