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Hi there 👋🏼
Are you excited about NativePHP for iOS?
Just before we get to that, I want to share two other bits of news:
NativePHP (for desktop) finally hit beta 🎉
And after an understandable hiatus that allowed him to bring Laravel Herd into the world, Marcel is back in the NativePHP kitchen 👨🏻🍳
And yes, he's already cookin'!
Now back to our scheduled programme:
What's happening?
Well... I (stupidly?) put in a proposal to give a talk at Laracon EU about building mobile apps with PHP 😅
(Laracon EU is sold out, but I am hearing whispers of a livestream.)
Why do I say 'stupidly'?
Because although I'd already done some work on compiling PHP for iOS, it wasn't really ready.
When my talk got selected I definitely had a small heart attack.
But with a little effort (and a lot of ChatGPT), a couple of weeks ago I finally cracked it and managed to get PHP to run on iOS without a web server.
Then I got Laravel working and more.
But will Apple allow it?
So this is very cool and fun and exciting, but the real challenge is less of a technical one and more of a philosophical one:
Will Apple like PHP being used to craft an entire app?
I don't know—it's never really been done this way before. There's really only one way to find out: build an app and submit it for review.
So that's what I did and now I'm "working with Apple" through their review process.
What happens if they don't approve the app?
My talk will have to change, I guess.
And our dreams may have been dashed.
But maybe this just means we need to put up a bit of a fight! 💪🏼
What happens if they do approve it?
Well, then it's a whole other story!
We'll have ourselves a nice little world-first:
The first ever iOS app in the App Store that is built entirely on Laravel and Livewire 🏆
Wouldn't that be something!
And then... ?
It would open the door for every Laravel and PHP developer to build iOS apps, almost without having to learn anything new.
Then we could use Laravel everywhere.
True. Full-stack. Laravel. 🤩
But let's not get too ahead of ourselves...
Is it worth carrying on until we know the outcome of the review?
I believe so! No matter what, I think this is worth pursuing.
I'm also cautiously optimistic about the outcome. There is some precedent already.
I believe that if it's not now, it's only a matter of time until Apple allows this.
Maybe we just need to make some tweaks, improve things, squash bugs, and then eventually they'll let us into their playground.
So I'm not stopping. We'll keep on knocking.
And no matter the outcome of the App Store review, I have plenty to talk about at Laracon.
What's next?
Well, I'm finishing up my talk and making steady progress on the next phase of iOS integration, starting with a few native APIs that I'd like to demo on stage.
Beyond that, I'm thinking about how to make this all sustainable.
NativePHP as a whole, and especially NativePHP for iOS, has consumed an awful lot of my time — and many contributors' — over the past two years. (Open source is hard!)
So something I'm going to do differently for the iOS package is making it a premium package.
That means that it won't be truly "open source."
At least not at launch.
This will allow me to keep on working on it and making it better at a much faster clip than I've been able to do with NativePHP for desktop.
It will expedite bringing Android along for the ride, allow us to financially support even more contributors and so much more.
I believe the potential for this is huge.
It could help thousands of developers, agencies and businesses realise new skills and opportunities.
If you think so too, please join the Early Access Program. We'd love to work with you to make your apps a reality.
If you'd rather play it safe, no worries, just keep your eye out for my talk at Laracon EU and future newsletters.
Until then... ✌🏼 Simon |
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