By incorporating web technologies like CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript, PhoneGap or Cordova Apache (recently renamed) has ushered in an era of cross-platform application development. This is a great achievement and was applauded globally. PhoneGap received the People’s Choice Award 2009. However, there was a big challenge for each PhoneGap app development company in terms of compiling the codes to suit different target device platforms, namely Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc.

Thanks Adobe! PhoneGap application development companies can make use of their PhoneGap Build service to homogeneously and efficiently compile source code composed of different web technologies. Compilation happens automatically to adapt to different devices or platforms. Therefore, app developers no longer need to worry about the native properties needed to create a compelling mobile app. PhoneGap Build is a cloud-based service hosted by Adobe. An application build submitted here is built using the latest SDK (Software Development Kit) made available by the native platform owner. For example, if a PhoneGap build needs to target an iPhone or iPad running iOS 10, then it would build using the iOS 10 SDK resources that are only offered by Apple.

In addition to building a PhoneGap build, the cloud service helps with collaboration. Developers can work together from different devices over the Internet and get the job done seamlessly. The project admin can assign jobs to different developers and keep track of all of them. Leveraging its built-in feature called Hydration, the service can also be used to debug and push updates to an existing version, allowing all team members to work with the most up-to-date version.

Based on their requirements, an app development company can choose the right subscription from the available options.

Free Plan

• Number of applications: No restrictions apply as of now. Developers can submit an unlimited number of builds and build based on the target platform.
• Number of private applications: The plan accepts only one private application. In the case of a private app, the coding is hosted in a private GitHub repository.
• Maximum application size: The size of the application must not exceed 50 MB.
• Core Cordova Plugins: Applications built with any basic Cordova plugin are allowed.
• Third Party Plugins: No restrictions on the use of third-party plugins.
• Plugin loading: Developers can upload any number of plugins to GitHub and use them in their app as needed.
• Collaborators: There is no limit to the number of developers joining the PhoneGap Build service.

Paid plan (starting at $9.99/month)

• Number of applications: No restrictions have been placed.
• Number of private applications: 25 private apps are allowed. In the case of a private app, the coding is hosted in a private GitHub repository.
• Maximum application size: An application size of no more than 100 MB is allowed.
• Core Cordova Plugins: Applications built with any basic Cordova plugin are allowed.
• Third Party Plugins: There is no limit on the use of the number of third-party plugins.

• Plugin Loading: No upper limit applies.

• Collaborators: Expanding the team is not a problem since there is no limit on the number of users.

Adobe Creative Cloud membership

This is another paid subscription, but it is a premium membership that brings some additional Adobe services. This can be subscribed through an Adobe Authorized Reseller. A PhoneGap member application development company can submit applications with a size of 1 GB. All other features remain similar to the paid ones we have discussed above.

Therefore, Adobe has greatly facilitated the development process of the PhoneGap mobile application. Getting started with the service is pretty easy. Simply, a developer needs to upload the application build that contains the configuration file (config.xml) and the web assets file (index.HTML file). The latter contains HTML, JavaScript, CSS, images and other components. A Zip file can also be uploaded instead of the index.HTML file. It is mandatory to provide a Git or SVN repository path. Thereafter, the Adobe service handles the build and packaging and delivers the app URLs for the target mobile platforms.