Can this really be done?Once you have all of the required elements - you can do this in under 60 minutes or less for a basic application using PhoneGap. The majority of the time is in purchasing and activating your Apple Developer Program Membership.
What is PhoneGap?
PhoneGap is an open platform (FREE!) where you can create HTML, Javascript, and CSS files and distribute them as an "app" onto iOS, Android, Windows, and other devices without having to know the specifics for each platform. Think of PhoneGap as a framework that takes care of the device-specific interfaces and exposes them in an easier and manner for you.
What Programming Skills Do I Need?
That will depend on the features you want to implement. But basically you need HTML, Javascript, and CSS.
What Can You Do With PhoneGap?
You can display standard web pages and use jQuery or you can interact with various API's to integrate more closely into the device itself to get more "app-like" features, such as:
- Accelerometer
- Camera
- Compass
- Contacts
- File
- Geolocation
- Media
- Network
- Notification (Alert)
- Notification (Sound)
- Notification (Vibration)
- Storage
Features supported for each device can vary. PhoneGap has a matrix of devices and features supported. In general:
- iPhone / iPhone 3G (features supported vary)
- iPhone 3GS (all of the features listed above)
- Windows 7 / Windows 8 (all of the features listed above)
- Android (all of the features listed above)
- BlackBerry (features supported vary)
- WebOS (features supported vary)
- Symbian (features supported vary)
- Bada (features supported vary)
Getting Started
Developing an app for iOS and building and deploying the app with PhoneGap (free) will require a Mac OS X operating system and an iOS Developer Program subscription ($99). You need this to get a developer certificate and to publish to the store. Apple has a Distribution Guide - but this post aims at simplifying the learning curve.
Assumptions
- Mac OS X 10.8.4 or newer.
- This is required only initially to get a pair of certificate keys that PhoneGap will need to build on your behalf.
- Xcode will run on this.
- iOS Developer Enrollment.
- Pre-existing enrollment in the iOS Developer Program.
- Click here to learn more about how to do this.
- XCode 5.
- Only available if you are part of the iOS Developer Program.
- Only runs on 10.8.4 or newer Mac OS X (Mavericks)
- PhoneGap account.
iOS Developer Program Enrollment- Get an account with the iOS Developer Program by going to https://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/
- Go through the steps of setting up your Apple ID
- If you have one already, you can skip this step.
- Enroll in the Apple Developer Program.
- Continue through the steps to make the payment.
- Select the Individual or Company.
- Pay the fee.
- You will receive a couple of emails.
- The first will indicate that an order has been placed. It also contains a link to the status. Usually arrives in minutes.
- The second will be a receipt once the order has been charged. Usually arrives in less than 30 minutes.
- The third will contain an activation link. Usually arrives in less than 60 minutes.
- Once you receive the email notification, you can check on the status with a link that is in the email.
Install XCode 5You will need XCode to manage your certificates. You can also use it to directly create iOS apps. But for this example we are going to use it only for the certificates. Essentially you will log in to your Apple ID and XCode will retrieve the certs associated with it.
- Click on the App Store button in your Mac OS X.
- Search for XCode.
- Click on the link to install if you have 10.8.4 or better. If you have a lesser version, go to
Get iOS Signing Certificate
- Go to the iOS Developer Member Center and download and install the certificates. Read More.
- In the Mac OS navigate to the menu GO > Applications.
- Open Utilities.
- Open Keychain Access.
Additional Resources
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