News

Mendix Taps React Native for 'True' Low-Code iOS and Android Apps

• By David Ramel
• April 18, 2019

Mendix claims to be the first low-code application development platform vendor in the market to offer true native mobile apps with the model-based visual approach.

The new mobile offering for creating native iOS and Android apps comes as part of the Mendix Spring '19 Release announced at a company conference.

As part of that release, the company highlighted its Studio (no-code) and Studio Pro (low-code) unified development environments; support for any and every cloud; the second generation of its AI engine known as Mendix Assist for contextual next-step suggestions; exclusive low-code support for SAP HANA; integration with Siemens MindSphere for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT); and more.

On the mobile side, the company said its React Native-based, next-generation native mobile app development platform provides three key advantages:

• Finished applications are true consumer-grade, delivering a top-tier user experience that is operating system-specific, full-featured, fast, and reliable, and are "offline first" so apps can function no matter the quality of the internet connection, or with no connection at all.
• Utilizing the industry-leading, widely embraced React Native framework, Mendix makes it easier and faster for developers of varying skill sets to build, through abstraction and WYSIWYG design, mobile apps with a full set of widgets and actions, ultimately boosting developer productivity by eliminating extra work required for delivering a superior user experience.
• Mendix is the only solution that combines the ease, speed, and efficiency of low-code development with true native mobile technology. The apps created with Mendix are not approximations, but real, true native mobile applications.

Those aforementioned true native mobile capabilities include:

• Critical native UI components, including maps, slider, progress circle, progress bar, tab container, and barcode scanner. Developers can also build their own reusable components based on React Native.
• Key native device capabilities, including camera, geolocation, Touch ID, Bluetooth, pull to refresh, and infinite swipe to go back. For additional capabilities, a new built-in JavaScript editor empowers developers to create their own reusable device activities.
• Offline-first features such as improved synchronization handling, and conflict resolution.

"With Mendix native mobile, developers can leverage mobile device capabilities to create consumer-grade mobile experiences, and use AR and machine learning on devices to create smarter, context-aware, guided user experiences," the company said in a blog post Tuesday.

Mendix Platform pricing is available here.