
Show HN: VoltBuilder, a Modern Replacement for PhoneGap - ghenne
https://volt.build
======
ppetree
Ha! I was just headed over to post about Voltbuilder and found @ghenne had
already posted something. So let me say, I'm an early adopter and I switched
over from PhoneGap Build while Voltbuilder was under development. Like all
other PGB users, we were completely abandoned by Adobe.

When I started looking around (and complaining quite publicly) what I found
was alternatives that were pricey and, quite frankly, came with too many of
their own issues and that was the last thing I wanted. When the Voltbuilder
crew said they were going to put a native CLI in the cloud I was all in!

Moving from PGB to Voltbuilder required little effort. I had to create a json
file that defined the project and add a certificates directory (because
Voltbuilder doesn't store certificates you upload them each time). Other than
that there were no modifications to the project at all.

From the first build onward, everything has worked perfectly. The issues that
I have come across have all turned out to be issues caused by errant or out of
date plugins. I now have my main app in both stores and my secondary app is in
development.

Support in the voltbuilder forums is really good and there are some smart
people around (some managing 20+ apps) that really know their way around if
you get stuck.

I saw a comment from @sphuff about the pricing and, as far as I know, final
pricing is still up in the air but once a week or so the staff at Voltbuilder
send all the testers an email and check in to make sure we're all happy and to
ask us our opinions. I think we've all voice opinions about the price.

------
ghenne
Hey HN, I’m George and I co-developed VoltBuilder
([https://volt.build](https://volt.build)) with James and Tomo. VoltBuilder is
a modern replacement for PhoneGap.

Early in the COVID crisis, I was running out of work and looking for a new
project. I saw Adobe was abandoning PhoneGap, a tool used by thousands to
convert web apps to Android and iOS native apps. (I’ve been a PhoneGap user
for 10 years, so I knew I’d miss it)

I spent a weekend going through the Android, iOS and Cordova documentation to
see if it would be possible to replicate what PhoneGap does and give myself
and all those users some hope. Reading hundreds of messages on StackOverflow
helped me figure out some stuff that is really, seriously not documented
anywhere.

By Monday, I had something like a POC working. I checked with my long term
collaborators, James and Tomo. They were similarly underworked, so we decided
to go ahead with the other 98% of the job to make a working product.

Technologies used include Python, Node, Jekyll, Auth0, Stripe, Cordova, Xcode,
Android SDK, Express, Helmet, JWT, Flask, Boto3 and more.

VoltBuilder now has a website, a build engine, queuing and billing. We’ve
built the server infrastructure to spin up multiple builds at the same time
and are starting to test that.

It’s deployed in beta production. About 50 beta testers have thrown thousands
of jobs at it. We’re focusing on building a community to get our first users
and gather as much feedback as possible. Pricing is still up in the air, but
the pricing page shows where we are heading.

Thank you for reading this far. I would love to get your feedback on
VoltBuilder and to answer questions.

~~~
sphuff
Great work! I just wanted to point out that I'm seeing "Plans start at
$xx.95/month" on the homepage. Wasn't sure if that's a typo/something you
meant to replace.

~~~
ghenne
Plans have not been finalized, so it's a placeholder for now. You can see more
here: [https://volt.build/plan/](https://volt.build/plan/)

