Ionic is a mobile development platform and is an open-source SDK for hybrid mobile applications. The solution offers a number of conveniences for mobile application development. Here are the benefits of Ionic that users like most:
- It provides platform-specific UI elements through a library of native components for iOS and Android.
- Ionic can use Angular CLI (Command-Line Interface) and components to create fully functional mobile applications.
- The solution’s usage of web components allows for the utilization of any frameworks with Ionic.
- It has a Stencil library that can be used for building and downloading web components.
- Ionic has precise documentation that covers various topics, including beginner guides.
- Ionic allows you to build mobile applications without hiring native developers. Users acquainted with web technologies and Angular can use it, leveraging web skills to create fully functional applications.
- The solution uses popular technologies, making it easy to learn. Frontend developers can quickly grasp the basics or choose between various web frameworks that Ionic supports.
- Ionic has a wide range of integration capabilities and plugins that work with a device’s hardware.
- It provides easy access to analytical instruments, payment systems, security, and testing tools.
- Ionic has an extensive choice of UI elements.
- When paired with web components, Ionic is capable of speeding up the process of developing UI logic and retaining a native look without additional costs.
- Users also like the solution’s convenience of testing. As long as Ionic apps work only via a webview, the device’s browser can be used for testing the app. It is much more convenient because users don’t need to use a testing device to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
- Additionally, users appreciate the solution’s concise and thorough documentation. Ionic’s documentation covers each and every useful topic on what the components of Ionic are, how to use them, and how they interrelate. In the documentation, users can also find guides for various tasks on installing, configuring, launching, and fine-tuning various instruments used with Ionic.
Users also like the Ionic solution because of its robust set of features, some of which include:
- Front-end technologies and WebView: Ionic uses front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Angular for application development. By using web technologies, Ionic helps to build cross-platform mobile applications with a single codebase. In addition, it allows web developers to create web pages that are run inside a device’s browser instance, called WebView. WebView may come as a plugin, and it’s essentially an application component that renders web pages and displays them as a native application.
- Ionic Native: Ionic Native was created so users can reach every bit of the required functionality when they are building apps. It’s a set of Cordova plugins designed to support standard APIs and integration. Ionic Native is available as a free community edition and a paid enterprise edition, which is an extended version curated by Ionic’s team.
- One codebase: The solution’s codebase helps your organization reduce costs on development, hiring native devs, and codebase maintenance. It also guarantees faster time-to-market. Ionic’s codebase includes built-in browser instruments and debugging tools and gives users the ability to transform their Ionic applications into a desktop app.
- Flexible UI components: UI components of Ionic consist of two parts, which can be broken out in the actual graphic element of your GUI and its functionality. By accessing the code of the UI component, users can change the way an element works and can add an animation to the button, modify the type of scrolling, reconstruct the order of items, and much more.
- Prototyping capabilities: With Ionic’s prototyping capabilities, users have access to ready-made UI elements which help them create prototypes of future applications in a comparably short time period. The solution’s prototyping capabilities also offer a drag & drop interface to construct interactive prototypes, but it cannot be used for constructing the entire app.
Even though Ionic is a great product, users note that it does have some drawbacks.
- Users feel performance is lacking with native applications. To clarify, when it comes to performance of heavy applications, Ionic lacks suitability. Using WebView to render the application, it shows good results for the common functionality of a mobile application. However, in the case of heavy applications, it can cause an app to work slowly.
- Ionic is a plugin-dependent system. When users build an application with Ionic, they are bound to use plugins to access native functionality. With the overall number of ready-made plugins, it’s easy to find a package to implement the required functionality. However, there were cases when users did not find a plugin or module, forcing them to develop the plugin on their own. The reason is that Ionic is not capable of implementing native plugins without transforming them in JavaScript. That means users can go fully web, but if you want to use a bit of native code — it isn’t possible.
- The solution lacks hot reloading. It uses live reloading instead. Every time developers want to apply changes, they have to restart their application. Refreshing an app each time you update code slows down the whole process. Developer-wise, it doesn’t provide much convenience when working on the app.
- Ionic has some security issues. Ionic communicates with the backend using usual HTTP calls. To protect websites, users need to use the security measures on their Ionic app, like using an HTTPS connection instead of HTTP.
