Jks Posted November 13, 2025 Share Posted November 13, 2025 I come from web development background and want to learn mobile app development. I have good skills experience in PHP, Mysql, HTML, CSS and less in JavaScript and Ajax. I prefer procedural PHP code due to its simplicity over object-oriented code. I'm interested in learning mobile app development either Hybrid or Web view app. I don't want to go for native app as it requires to learn language both for android and ios. These are some queries that I have in this regard. 1) What is the easy way to learn mobile app development for someone coming from PHP? 2) Can you directly convert PHP web application to mobile app? 3) Which language is simple like procedural code for Hybrid or Web view app? 4) Can MySQL be used in Hybrid, Web view app or need to learn other database? Looking forward to your reply. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted November 13, 2025 Share Posted November 13, 2025 This is a large topic to cover. To start with, you can (and should) have been practicing "responsive" web UI development. So there's that option. Given you aren't interested in native development, you should look into cross platform mobile development options, which include: React Native (Typescript/Javascript) Flutter (Dart) Xamarin (.net/c#) Ionic (javascript/css/html) There are numerous other options which are less popular, but might be a better fit for you. Literally everything is going to be at very least object based, so your desire to avoid OOP is going to be problematic for you, although it is always possible to write essentially procedural code even though you have an object based framework. Your familiarity and use of javascript is one of the areas you need to explore, should you want to use React Native or several of these other web tech oriented bridge technologies. There's also overhead involved in certain frameworks where the app utilizes a built in javascript runtime, rather than strictly relying on the compilation process to produce native apps for your targets. Other options: Apache Cordova (Ionic built on top of it, so few would choose Cordova directly these days, for various reasons) Nativescript (javascript/html/css). Competes with Ionic, and depending on the app, might be better at delivering native mobile OS features Kotlin Multiplatform (Kotlin). This an interesting option you should look into. Kotlin was created by Jetbrains, which is the company best known for its editor tools, and in the php world, the generally acknowledged "best" IDE PHPStorm. You might be wondering about how this all came to be, but it makes more sense if you know a bit about the history of Java and Android. The official development language of Android initially was Java, and you created native Android apps using Java. Jetbrains IDE products are written in Java, and that began with what was their flagship editor IntelliJ Idea. So they have a long history as being a key technology company in the java development community. Kotlin was created to sort of be for Android, what Swift was for IOS -- an alternative to a more verbose, lower level language like Objective C or Java. The main advantage is that by learning Kotlin you are learning the recommended native Android development language, while also being able to create native IOS applications with Multiplatform. It's also a language that I think might accommodate your desire to write mostly procedural code. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661814 Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxxd Posted November 15, 2025 Share Posted November 15, 2025 I've not tried it, but I've heard things about https://nativephp.com/docs/mobile/1/getting-started/introduction so that may be worth looking into. I agree with gizmola that your preference for procedural code is probably going to be difficult. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661852 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted November 15, 2025 Share Posted November 15, 2025 7 hours ago, maxxd said: I've not tried it, but I've heard things about https://nativephp.com/docs/mobile/1/getting-started/introduction so that may be worth looking into. I agree with gizmola that your preference for procedural code is probably going to be difficult. Certainly interesting project, but from what I've seen, very new and more like a proof of concept at present, rather than a legitimate contender in the cross platform mobile space. The mobile is also inherently closed source and requires a license, which is not the case for the many alternatives discussed. I mean you can develop cross platform mobile apps with commercial game development platforms like unity as well, but I didn't mention those. I don't object to the nativephp folks trying to build a business around their mobile platform, but the closed source nature of that makes this an apples/oranges comparison to the other options I listed. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661853 Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxxd Posted November 15, 2025 Share Posted November 15, 2025 Valid concerns - I had heard decent things about it and good things about NativePHP, and given that NativePHP is open source I assumed mobile was as well. Apparently not the case. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661854 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarsHatt Posted November 16, 2025 Share Posted November 16, 2025 You only need to use viewport Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661857 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jks Posted November 16, 2025 Author Share Posted November 16, 2025 18 hours ago, FarsHatt said: You only need to use viewport Can you please mention which language, framework required to use viewport? What is the exact process of using viewport?? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661860 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted November 17, 2025 Share Posted November 17, 2025 That is just another way of saying you can create a responsive web application: viewport Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1661863 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechDigital Posted December 23, 2025 Share Posted December 23, 2025 If you know PHP, start with a responsive web app and use it in a WebView or Ionic, so you don’t need to learn native Android or iOS first. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/332347-how-to-learn-mobile-app-development-for-someone-using-php/#findComment-1662065 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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