App Assets

#Customizing Your App Icon

NativePHP makes it easy to apply a custom app icon to your iOS and Android builds.

#Step 1: Provide Your Icon

Place a single high-resolution icon file at: public/icon.png

#Requirements:

• Format: PNG
• Size: 1024 × 1024 pixels
• Shape: Square
• Background: Transparent or solid — your choice

Note: This image will be automatically resized for all Android densities and used as the base iOS app icon.

#Compiling CSS and JavaScript

Your device behaves like a server, so assets must be compiled before deployment.

To ensure your latest styles and JavaScript are included, run: npm run build before running: php artisan native:run.

If you’ve made changes to your frontend, this step is required to see them reflected in the app.

#Using the --watch Flag (Experimental)

NativePHP includes an experimental --watch flag that enables automatic file syncing while the app is running:

php artisan native:run --watch

This is useful during development for quickly testing changes without rebuilding the entire app.

#Caveats

• This feature is currently best suited for Blade and Livewire applications.
• It does not currently detect or sync compiled frontend assets, such as those built with Vite or used by Inertia.js.
• If you're working with a JavaScript-heavy stack (Vue, React, Inertia), you should continue using npm run build before launching the app with native:run.

#Recommendation

Use --watch when you're iterating on Blade views or Livewire components. For all other use cases, treat this flag as experimental and optional.

#Optional: Installing with ICU Support

By default, NativePHP installs a smaller PHP runtime without ICU (International Components for Unicode) to keep app size minimal.

If your Laravel app uses features that rely on intl (such as number formatting, localized date handling, or advanced string collation), you’ll need ICU support enabled.

To include ICU during installation, select it when running: php artisan native:install.

This will install a version of PHP with full ICU support. Note that it increases the PHP binary size significantly (typically from ~16MB to ~44MB).

Important: If you plan to use Filament in your app, you must enable this option. Filament relies on the intl extension for formatting and localization features.