We performed a comparison between IBM MobileFirst and Ionic based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems, Mendix, Salesforce and others in Mobile Development Platforms."I like Its capability for developing hybrid applications, with an ability to integrate device-native code as well"
"IBM MobileFirst has one of the most feature-rich admin panels."
"With help of this product, we have been able to develop mobile applications without having complete knowledge of each mobile OS's native programming technology. App development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product."
"Being able to have one set of code is valuable. I don't have to recode for different platforms. I don't have to recode for Xcode, Angular, or Android. So, the biggest feature for me is that it's a hybrid system, and I can have one set of code, and then the tool sets that are in there convert my code for Xcode or Play Store. It makes work a lot easier."
"The most valuable feature of Ionic is the ease of use and the simple connection of the applications. Additionally, the documentation is good in the Ionic application, and beginners can easily learn and download their own application using Ionic. Everyone can easily switch out, their domain, from native applications to hybrid applications."
"The solution can support many languages."
"Ionic is easy to upgrade and is helpful for design purposes. It also is quite common and easy to use. It is a very reliable application. It's easy to write on and print. The UI is easy to use as well. My organization chose to go with Ionic because we can access both Android and iOS applications."
"Ionic's best feature is that it's not necessary to write your own custom codes as all the hybrid is provided by Angular."
"What I like the most about Ionic is live reloading, which enables us to develop new features without having to build the application again and re-check the functionality."
"The solution is secure, reliable, and packed with features so we can easily implement apps even in the most complex situations."
"The most valuable feature is the one code deployed to all solutions, which means you do not need to have multiple teams."
"There are issues with push notifications, especially for Windows mobile apps. JSONStore also crashes abruptly at times."
"I would like to see improved support for native device functions."
"They started writing Capacitor to get rid of PhoneGap and Cordova, but they haven't yet got all the libraries and all the functionalities. They want you to start using Capacitor, but they don't have all the libraries there. They're developing them as they go. So, currently, you have to mix and match the three. When it comes to mobile applications, I would only like to use Capacitor. I don't want to jump between Cordova and Capacitor or have both of them. That's the main thing for me, but they have been working on it."
"Ionic's UI component doesn't always look like the native mobile app."
"It would be good if the mobile version uses something other than JavaScript and HTML."
"Ionic is a cross-platform framework, so when we compare Ionic with native Android and iOS, we can see the drawbacks. For example, if you need to work on very high-level aspects of an application such as animation, even if everything else is not putting load on the app, you will still see high load from the server side."
"There could be better support for augmented reality and other things. Geolocation and background app activity are some of the things that are a little more clumsy at the moment and could be improved."
"Ionic would be improved with dynamic design features."
"The navigation within this solution could be improved; it is currently quite complicated to move through the different tabs."
"In a future release, we would like to have a little more support for the desktop environment. Currently it is still focused on mobile devices."
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IBM MobileFirst is ranked 14th in Mobile Development Platforms while Ionic is ranked 5th in Mobile Development Platforms with 14 reviews. IBM MobileFirst is rated 8.4, while Ionic is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of IBM MobileFirst writes "It provides access management for the enterprise user as well as for the consumer". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Ionic writes "Great user acceptance and reliability, multiple teams not required, with prompt customer service". IBM MobileFirst is most compared with IBM MaaS360, Microsoft Azure App Service and SAP Mobile Platform, whereas Ionic is most compared with Xamarin Platform, OutSystems, Appium and Appzillon Digital Platform.
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