After spending hours downloading, updating, and re-downloading android studio, I was regretting my decision to create a mobile app over a web app. But my entire project idea was based off of gathering data on phone use, so switching to a web app wasn’t feasible. Instead, I researched different platforms for developing mobile apps, maybe iOS would be easier? Or using eclipse? In the end, I finally found a solution that I thought might work for my project, PhoneGap.

Why PhoneGap

PhoneGap allows you to use html, javascript, and other web app languages to build apps that are compatible with web browsers, android systems, and iOS systems. When first trying out PhoneGap, I was able to turn one of my old web app projects, the fifty states game, into a mobile app just by copying and pasting the files into different folders and running it on PhoneGap.

How it works

After opening the desktop companion for PhoneGap, you can easily create a new app, much like in Android Studio. After creating the project, you can begin working by opening the index.html file in a text editor like Sublime. This is also where you can edit your javascript, php, or any other files you may need. When you’re ready to run your app, you go back to the PhoneGap desktop companion, and look for the server number at the bottom of the screen. This is the number you input into the PhoneGap mobile app on your phone or tablet. PhoneGap will then compile and download the app onto your phone, allowing you to test your app without a USB cord or a simulator.

Although there are a lot of native features that are accessible through android studio that are not accessible through PhoneGap, PhoneGap meets the needs for my project, and has made building my app much simpler.