Mobile Apps for Laravel Devs: NativePHP vs React Native vs Flutter

Summary

The video introduces three ways Laravel developers can build mobile apps—NativePHP, React Native, and Flutter—and compares their ecosystems, learning requirements, and apparent job-market demand. The presenter built the same simple habit-tracking app in each framework, with all three connected to the same Laravel API.

The three approaches

• NativePHP: A Laravel-based mobile app. The example uses familiar Laravel and Livewire patterns, with Blade and Tailwind for the interface. Vue.js could also be used for dynamic behavior. The app is then packaged for Android and iOS. The presenter says NativePHP has grown significantly and is now free to get started with, but it is still too new to expect many job opportunities.
• React Native: Uses TypeScript and React, typically with Expo. Its structure should feel familiar to JavaScript and React developers, and TypeScript can also be used for web development.
• Flutter: Uses Dart, a language and framework ecosystem largely specific to Flutter. Its interface is built from “widgets,” and the project uses a pubspec.yaml file for dependencies.

Other options considered

• Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) let developers reuse web skills, but installation—especially on iOS—is less straightforward than installing an app from an app store. PWAs may suit apps where app-store visibility is not essential.
• A Vue-oriented mobile/container approach is mentioned as a working but relatively niche option.
• Native iOS and Android development with Swift and Kotlin offers direct access to native components, but requires learning and maintaining two languages, codebases, and repositories.

Market demand and evaluation

The presenter uses Upwork searches as a rough indicator, while warning that the figures include old or inactive listings. React Native appears to have more opportunities than Flutter in the searches shown. NativePHP has almost no listings and is not yet a realistic choice for someone seeking a mobile-development job.

The comparison is presented as an overview based on the presenter’s research and experiments, not as a definitive assessment from an experienced mobile developer.

Guide and course coverage

This video is a free ecosystem overview from a course described as roughly 55 minutes across eight videos. The presenter says later lessons will examine native capabilities, UI, database handling, and how each stack works with a remote Laravel API.

Main speaker/source: The presenter from Laravel Daily, discussing their own research and experiments.