BlogEngineering

One app, four platforms: how we ship to web, iOS, Android and Windows at once

TradeYoke's web app and native apps are the same code. Here's what that buys customers — and the rules we follow to keep it true.

Written byCarl Randall 1 min read
Glossy TradeYoke cover art for One app, four platforms: how we ship to web, iOS, Android and Windows at once

The rule

Everything a user sees lives in shared components. The web server, the browser and the native apps are thin shells that host those same components. A feature built for the web is therefore, automatically, the same feature everywhere.

What it means for you

  • No "that's only on the desktop version" — the office and the van have the same capabilities.
  • Fixes ship to every platform together.
  • The native apps work offline; the web app is the always-online front door.

The discipline it takes

Platform differences — cameras, GPS, file pickers, notifications — go behind an interface with one implementation per platform. Nothing in the shared code may call a web-only or device-only API directly. We treat a missing implementation as a bug, because it would silently break one platform.

Engineering

Carl Randall

Founder of TradeYoke. Builds the platform end to end — web, mobile and the bits in between.

More posts by Carl Randall →Website

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