Installation

#Install the Composer package

NativePHP contains all the libraries, classes, commands, and interfaces that your application will need to work with iOS and Android. And it's a single command away:

composer require nativephp/mobile

#We love Laravel

NativePHP for Mobile is built to work with Laravel. We recommend that you install it into a new Laravel application for your NativePHP application.

#Notes for Windows users

Windows Defender

Add C:\temp, as well as your project folder, to your Windows Defender exclusions list to significantly speed up Composer installs during app compilation. This prevents its real-time scanning from processing the many temporary files created during the build process, which slows the process considerably.

No WSL support

NativePHP does not work in WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). You must install and run NativePHP directly on Windows.

#Run the NativePHP installer

Before running the install command, it is important to set the following variables in your .env:

NATIVEPHP_APP_ID=com.yourcompany.yourapp
NATIVEPHP_APP_VERSION="DEBUG"
NATIVEPHP_APP_VERSION_CODE="1"

Find out more about these options in Configuration.

php artisan native:install

The NativePHP installer takes care of setting up and configuring your Laravel application to work with iOS and Android.

You may be prompted about whether you would like to install the ICU-enabled PHP binaries. You should install these if your application relies on the intl PHP extension.

If you don't need intl or are not sure, choose the default, non-ICU builds.

#The nativephp Directory

After running: php artisan native:install you’ll see a new nativephp directory at the root of your Laravel project as well as a config/nativephp.php config file.

The nativephp folder contains the native application project files needed to build your app for the desired platforms.

You should not need to manually open or edit any native project files under normal circumstances. NativePHP handles the heavy lifting for you.

You should treat this directory as ephemeral. When upgrading the NativePHP package, it will be necessary to run php artisan native:install --force, which completely rebuilds this directory, deleting all files within.

For this reason, we also recommend you add the nativephp folder to your .gitignore.

#Start your app

Heads up! Before starting your app in a native context, try running it in the browser. You may bump into exceptions which need addressing before you can run your app natively, and may be trickier to spot when doing so.

Once you're ready:

php artisan native:run

Just follow the prompts! This will start compiling your application and boot it on whichever device you select.

#Running on a real device

On iOS

If you want to run your app on a real iOS device, you need to make sure it is in Developer Mode and that it's been added to your Apple Developer account as a registered device.

On Android

On Android you need to enable developer options and have USB debugging (ADB) enabled.

And that's it! You should now see your Laravel application running as a native app! 🎉