The Ionic Platform
Build mobile experiences with the web
Ionic is a platform for building mobile experiences with the web.
Ionic is primarily known for its open source mobile SDK. The Ionic SDK allows web developers to build native iOS and Android applications, and mobile-ready Progressive Web Apps, using familiar web tools, frameworks, and languages.
The core of Ionic SDK is Capacitor, a cross-platform native bridge that allows you to turn any web project into a native iOS or Android mobile application. Capacitor includes a rich library of native plugins that enable easy access to common device features, using basic JavaScript, with complete access to the native operating system when you need it.
You can think of Capacitor as a native container—like Electron for mobile— that lets you build and ship web apps on any mobile or web platform.
Ionic also supports the creation of micro apps that can be deployed to any existing native mobile applications. Micro apps are primarily used by enterprises to scale development by allowing multiple teams to build, test, and ship in parallel, or to deploy a single micro app across multiple applications.
Customize your mobile UI
Because Ionic apps are based on the web, you can use any web-based UI library in your mobile app. This gives Ionic developers complete power to customize the look and feel of their app, and a development environment that is immediately familiar to any web developer.
To make sure your apps look and feel truly native, Ionic’s open source UI toolkit provides a rich library of UI components, such as cards, buttons, and toggles—plus mobile-optimized routing, navigation, gestures, and animations. The Ionic UI toolkit works with specific JavaScript frameworks, including React, Angular, and Vue. If you’re familiar with any of these JS frameworks, you’ll feel right at home building with Ionic.
Alternatively, you can use popular web libraries like Tailwind, or even your own custom Web Components to create a user experience that matches your company’s unique brand and UX guidelines.
Add your favorite integrations
Ionic apps are backend agnostic, with connections to AWS, Azure, Firebase and more.
You can integrate with a wide range of 3rd-party cloud services by selecting from our library of pre-built integrations. Those marked as Official Integrations are built and maintained by the Ionic team, with reliable delivery timelines and frequent updates. We also have a library of open source plugins for connecting to a variety of the 3rd-party services.
Safeguard users and data
For professional developers and teams building mission-critical apps, Ionic provides premium enterprise solutions that enhance mobile security and help to safeguard users and data.
That includes pre-built solutions for encrypted mobile storage, advanced biometrics and identity management, and secure user authentication. Ionic's pre-built solutions deliver best-in-class native security and performance, using the latest in native platform capabilities. And best of all, they are actively maintained by our team, to make sure they stay up-to-date with OS changes and security updates.
Publish and update your apps from the cloud
As you're developing your app, Ionic Appflow offers a suite of cloud-based app delivery services to help you build, publish, and update your apps over time.
We make it easy to connect with your favorite git repos, like GitHub, BitBucket, and GitLab, so you can automatically push new versions to Appflow for easy deployments and app updates.
Appflow also offers out-of-the-box integrations with popular CI/CD tools like CircleCI, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Cloudbees, and more, to extend the value of your existing general purpose DevOps infrastructure with mobile specific services. For example, you can trigger an automated workflow from Jenkins that relies on Appflow to generate a native app binary that’s ready for the app stores. This way, Appflow plays nicely with your existing infrastructure and handles all of the mobile-specific services for you.
Get expert help and advice, every step of the way
Ionic is also the only open source mobile SDK to provide enterprise support and services. This is one of the factors that makes Ionic a popular choice among enterprise teams, including big brands like H&R Block, GE, MasterCard, Burger King, and more.
For active subscribers to one of our Standard or Enterprise plans, Ionic offers expert Support and Advisory services. Our app building experts are on-hand to help you throughout your development process from initial planning to post-production optimization.
Consult with our team at any time to improve code quality, choose the right feature or integration, enhance security and performance, or to get feedback on your mobile UI.
Ionic's expert services can help you accelerate your project timelines, improve the user experience, and reduce project risk.