What's the future for Qt development for iOS, iPad OS and Android?
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Hi guys,
It's been a while for me since the last time I posted in this community.
I've been working in a C++ codebase for the last couple of years and I did use Qt for the frontend in the desktop application. Recently I've started to have some interest in porting the app for mobile platforms, focusing on iOS / iPad OS.
I'm considering Qt (QML), to recycle some of the code used in the original desktop app (written with Qt Widgets). I would like to know some information before moving forward:
- What's the future of Qt for mobile platforms? I've read that the Qt company is considering to focus on embedded platforms in the new versions, I wonder if they are still providing support and add new features for iOS/Android.
- What is your experience?
- How hard was the integration of native APIs? Release in the official stores?
- Any critical issue to take into consideration?
Thanks in advance
"Good design adds value faster than it adds cost."
-
Hi guys,
It's been a while for me since the last time I posted in this community.
I've been working in a C++ codebase for the last couple of years and I did use Qt for the frontend in the desktop application. Recently I've started to have some interest in porting the app for mobile platforms, focusing on iOS / iPad OS.
I'm considering Qt (QML), to recycle some of the code used in the original desktop app (written with Qt Widgets). I would like to know some information before moving forward:
- What's the future of Qt for mobile platforms? I've read that the Qt company is considering to focus on embedded platforms in the new versions, I wonder if they are still providing support and add new features for iOS/Android.
- What is your experience?
- How hard was the integration of native APIs? Release in the official stores?
- Any critical issue to take into consideration?
Thanks in advance
@mohaboujemaoui said in What's the future for Qt development for iOS, iPad OS and Android?:
- What's the future of Qt for mobile platforms? I've read that the Qt company is considering to focus on embedded platforms in the new versions, I wonder if they are still providing support and add new features for iOS/Android.
In Qt6, iOS and Android is supported. I've even seen some Epic on Qt bugtracker called "Android: love at first sight" where they aim to improve Android experience considerably.
So, while definitely Qt Company is mostly interested in Embedded these days, Android and iOS support is not going away. And KDAB is also actively adding some stuff to Qt on Android.
- What is your experience?
Both iOS and Android are hard. Apple and Google keep changing their APIs, compilers, deployment rules etc. So every Qt update or iOS/Android SDK/NDK update, things break. Once you have a working setup, better stick to it until forced to upgrade.
Also, Qt does not have built-in support for many common things like notifications. So there is considerable overhead with this.
- How hard was the integration of native APIs?
It's a bit annoying that you have to do it in the first place :D But using native stuff is pretty easy and well described in the docs.
Release in the official stores?
No problem here, except for all the annoying hurdles that Apple and Google keep piling up.
- Any critical issue to take into consideration?
For Google Play Store, you need to ship either AAB or 4 APKs per release (one for each architecture). It's possible to ship one fat APK (universal build), but with Qt, OpenSSL and stuff this will easily grow to 50-150MB, which is a tough pill to swallow for mobile users.
(Z(:^
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@mohaboujemaoui said in What's the future for Qt development for iOS, iPad OS and Android?:
- What's the future of Qt for mobile platforms? I've read that the Qt company is considering to focus on embedded platforms in the new versions, I wonder if they are still providing support and add new features for iOS/Android.
In Qt6, iOS and Android is supported. I've even seen some Epic on Qt bugtracker called "Android: love at first sight" where they aim to improve Android experience considerably.
So, while definitely Qt Company is mostly interested in Embedded these days, Android and iOS support is not going away. And KDAB is also actively adding some stuff to Qt on Android.
- What is your experience?
Both iOS and Android are hard. Apple and Google keep changing their APIs, compilers, deployment rules etc. So every Qt update or iOS/Android SDK/NDK update, things break. Once you have a working setup, better stick to it until forced to upgrade.
Also, Qt does not have built-in support for many common things like notifications. So there is considerable overhead with this.
- How hard was the integration of native APIs?
It's a bit annoying that you have to do it in the first place :D But using native stuff is pretty easy and well described in the docs.
Release in the official stores?
No problem here, except for all the annoying hurdles that Apple and Google keep piling up.
- Any critical issue to take into consideration?
For Google Play Store, you need to ship either AAB or 4 APKs per release (one for each architecture). It's possible to ship one fat APK (universal build), but with Qt, OpenSSL and stuff this will easily grow to 50-150MB, which is a tough pill to swallow for mobile users.
@sierdzio awesome!
Thank you for your quick answer!
For an initial version, I'm not planning to use any fancy API, so I hope that with the mechanism that Qt provides and a minimum set of binding stuff work as expected.
This can be a good opportunity to update the look of the Application with modern QML components!
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