Is it Possible to create a PhoneGap app from a WordPress blog?

2 comments

1. One way is to essentially you make PhoneGap a web browser without an adress bar. I have an iPhone example here. All I did was make javascript redirect upon loading the application, whitelisted my IP (in the case of the example it’s local host) and modified the Appdeligate.m with this piece of code from:

   - (BOOL) webView:(UIWebView*)theWebView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:(NSURLRequest*)request navigationType:(UIWebViewNavigationType)navigationType
   {
       return [self.viewController webView:theWebView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:request navigationType:navigationType];
   }
   

   to

   - (BOOL)webView:(UIWebView *)theWebView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:(NSURLRequest*)request navigationType:(UIWebViewNavigationType)navigationType
   {
       NSURL *url = [request URL];
       if ([[url scheme] isEqualToString:@"http"] || [[url scheme]isEqualToString:@"https"]) {
           return YES;
       }
       else {
           return [ super webView:theWebView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:requestnavigationType:navigationType ];
       }
   }
   

   and voila, a “native” app, with access to all local resources (storage, camera, etc) built on web frameworks! Weather or not Apple or the others will let something like this in their app store I still have yet to investigate but it sure works well for demonstration purposes or personal apps.

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2. We have just created a similar concept using PhoneGap and Application Craft, but Apple rejected the application, this is the message we received:

   We found that the experience your app provides is not sufficiently different from a web browsing experience, as it would be by incorporating native iOS functionality to provide a more robust user experience.

   While your app content may differ from your web site or other existing sites, the experience it provides does not differ significantly from the general experience of using Safari, as required by the App Store Review Guidelines.

   You may wish to provide convenient access to a web property for a select or niche group of users – and may have enhanced that experience with features such as Push Notifications, Core Location, and/or sharing features. However, these features do not provide a robust enough user experience to be appropriate for the App Store.

   If you wish to provide quick access to a web property, you may wish instead to provide instructions to your users on how to create a Safari web clip to add to their iOS device Home Screen. Or, if you would like to share the app with a select group of users, we recommend the Ad Hoc distribution method. See the iOS Provisioning Portal for details on Ad Hoc Distribution.

   We encourage you to review your app concept and evaluate whether you can incorporate additional features to enhance the user experience.
   If you cannot – or choose not to – revise your app to be in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines, you may wish to build an HTML5 web app instead. You can distribute web apps directly on your web site; the App Store does not accept or distribute web apps.

   HTML5 is the major new version of HTML and enables audio and video to play natively in the browser without requiring proprietary plug-ins. Using HTML5, web apps can look and behave like native iPhone and iPad apps, and using HTML5’s Offline Application Cache, a web app can work even when the device is offline. With web apps, you have flexibility to deliver as much or as little functionality as you desire.

   To get started with iPhone or iPad web apps, please review Getting Started with iPhone Web Apps.

   For a description of the HTML elements and attributes you can use in Safari on iPhone, check out Safari HTML Reference: Introduction.

   Unfortunately I can not link this as it was a reply to our application submission and not on one of the help platforms. We have not tried Google Play Store yet but from what I understand they will most likely accept the app, will update when we have tried.

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