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Adobe PhoneGap Build vs Built.io
March 12, 2025 | Author: Sandeep Sharma
2★
Build great apps powered by open web standards. Cut down on development time by re-using your existing web dev skills, frameworks and tools. Get all the benefits of cross-platform development while building apps just the way you like. Easily create apps using the web technologies you know and love: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Adobe PhoneGap Build and Built.io are both cloud-based platforms, which means they operate in that mysterious realm where things happen but nobody is quite sure how. They let people build mobile apps without needing to install terrifying software development kits, which, let’s be honest, is something everyone should aspire to. Both support iOS and Android, integrate with various third-party services to make developers feel clever, and, crucially, allow people with only a vague understanding of coding to create something that occasionally works.
Adobe PhoneGap Build, once the darling of web developers who wanted their HTML, CSS and JavaScript to pretend to be real mobile apps, was launched in 2010 by Adobe in the USA. It was particularly good for those who liked the idea of building apps but found the concept of native development a bit too much, like trying to assemble an intergalactic spaceship using only a rubber band and hope. Unfortunately, it was discontinued in 2020, presumably after someone at Adobe realized the entire system was held together with duct tape and nostalgia.
Built.io, on the other hand, emerged in 2007 from Raw Engineering, also in the USA and took a more sophisticated approach by offering a Backend-as-a-Service, because backends are mysterious and terrifying things best left to professionals. It targeted enterprises needing digital wizardry to connect all their things, from mobile apps to random IoT devices that beep for no reason. In 2018, it was acquired by Software AG, ensuring its future would be filled with grand terms like "digital transformation," which sounds impressive and is therefore probably very expensive.
See also: Top 10 Mobile App Builders
Adobe PhoneGap Build, once the darling of web developers who wanted their HTML, CSS and JavaScript to pretend to be real mobile apps, was launched in 2010 by Adobe in the USA. It was particularly good for those who liked the idea of building apps but found the concept of native development a bit too much, like trying to assemble an intergalactic spaceship using only a rubber band and hope. Unfortunately, it was discontinued in 2020, presumably after someone at Adobe realized the entire system was held together with duct tape and nostalgia.
Built.io, on the other hand, emerged in 2007 from Raw Engineering, also in the USA and took a more sophisticated approach by offering a Backend-as-a-Service, because backends are mysterious and terrifying things best left to professionals. It targeted enterprises needing digital wizardry to connect all their things, from mobile apps to random IoT devices that beep for no reason. In 2018, it was acquired by Software AG, ensuring its future would be filled with grand terms like "digital transformation," which sounds impressive and is therefore probably very expensive.
See also: Top 10 Mobile App Builders
