Book sale, Hotwire Native LIVE #2, and Hotwire Native around the web

Hey folks! Can you believe it’s June already? The summer has officially begun in Portland. I mean, just look at that forecast. 😍

Hotwire Native LIVE #

Last week I ran the first Hotwire Native LIVE episode on YouTube. I built an iOS and Android app from scratch and answered 20+ questions from viewers. Between YouTube and Twitter, the recording has already been viewed over 2000 times. 😲

And this week I’m covering bridge components: what they are, how to add them to your iOS and Android apps, and examples of components I’ve built for clients. I’d love to see you there!

Book sale #

My book’s publisher, Pragmatic Bookshelf, is wrapping up their spring sale. That means you can get my book, along with almost 50 others, for 40% off until the end of the week.

Use code SPRING2025 on the Pragmatic Bookshelf website to grab your discount.

Hotwire Native around the web #

Seamless Loading with Hotwire Native #

Stephen and Alan from Katalyst Interactive documented their approach to building a Hotwire Native app with seamless loading on launch. They weren’t satisfied with their iOS app showing the native launch screen then dropping the user directly to a blank page with a spinner.

By preloading the web view, detecting when it’s ready, and using a smooth crossfade transition, we made the Hotwire Native app feel truly native.

Custom Android Keyboard Extension #

William Kennedy wrapped up his series on Hotwire Native Android with an article on building a custom keyboard extension. He uses a bridge component to add a native toolbar when a Trix editor is focused. Users can then tap native buttons to toggle bold, italic, and headings.

This is a great feature to build if you want to build a markdown editor in your app that’s accessible via mobile.

Until next time, everyone!