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Capacitor

← All terms · Build/deploy tooling

Also called Capacitor.js

A cross-platform native runtime that allows developers to build iOS, Android, and web apps using standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

What it is

Built by the Ionic team, Capacitor packages a modern web application into a native mobile wrapper. It provides a consistent JavaScript API to access native device features like the camera or geolocation. Unlike older Cordova wrappers, Capacitor allows developers to easily drop down into native Swift or Kotlin code when necessary.

When you would use it

You use Capacitor when you have a skilled web development team and want to deploy a mobile app to the App Store without rewriting the entire codebase in Swift or Kotlin.

Common operations

  • Converting an existing React web application into a downloadable iOS app.
  • Accessing native device push notifications from a standard JavaScript codebase.

Related terms

Where this is taught

Going deeper