Cordova & PhoneGap App Support, Migration & Modernisation
the build service has gone. The app does not have to.
For businesses with a phone app built on PhoneGap, Apache Cordova or early Ionic that can no longer be built or submitted to the stores. We assess the code and its plugins, get it building again, move it to Capacitor where that suits, and rebuild it in stages where it does not.
More about this service
We are an Australian team working remotely with businesses in the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Every engagement starts with a scoped technical assessment, so the estimate that follows is based on your code and your data.
- Assessment A scoped technical review before any estimate
- 18+ yrs Building business software
- Independent No licence commission, no reseller agenda
- US UK NZ AU Australian team, working remotely
Built here. Your data stays here.
- No offshore development. Everything is written by our own team in Australia. Nothing is subcontracted overseas.
- Your data stays onshore. Hosted in Australia, on infrastructure you own, under Australian law.
- Every state, not just ours. Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and everywhere between.
One web app, two stores, and a build service that closed
PhoneGap let a web developer wrap one set of HTML and JavaScript as an iPhone app and an Android app, and PhoneGap Build turned it into installable files without a Mac in the office. A great many business apps were made that way: bookings, field forms, loyalty cards, staff tools. Most of them still do their job.
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Then Adobe closed PhoneGap Build on 1 October 2020, and the signing keys often went with it. Plugins the app relies on have been abandoned, Ionic 1 sits on AngularJS, which is out of support, and both stores refuse uploads built with old tools. Apache Cordova itself is still maintained, so each of these has a known answer.
Our Cordova developer service is for businesses in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It covers three kinds of work: code fixes and updates, migration to a modern technology stack, and ongoing maintenance and support.
Three ways forward for a Cordova or PhoneGap app
Which one fits depends mostly on the plugins.
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Keep it on Cordova and support it
The app stays as it is and moves from PhoneGap to a current Apache Cordova. We set up a build to replace PhoneGap Build, swap dead plugins, put the signing in order, fix faults and release updates. This suits an app that works and mainly needs to stay in the stores.
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Move it to Capacitor
The same web code is moved onto Capacitor, a maintained open source runtime from the Ionic team, which publishes its own guide for bringing Cordova projects across. Plugins are swapped for supported ones. The screens stay as people know them.
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Replace it in stages
Where the app is slow, dated or built on AngularJS, it is rebuilt in React Native or Flutter a section at a time, against the same server and data.
What we do with Cordova and PhoneGap apps
Six kinds of work. Most engagements are two or three of them.
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Cordova maintenance
Faults fixed and changes made in the existing HTML, JavaScript and config.xml, from the project source.
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Plugin audit
Every plugin listed, with whether it is still maintained, has a successor, or has been abandoned.
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Build and signing recovery
A repeatable build set up in place of PhoneGap Build, with the Android keystore and the Apple certificates put in order.
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Store resubmission
The app brought up to what Apple and Google Play currently require, and taken through review.
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Capacitor migration
The web code moved from Cordova to Capacitor, with plugins replaced and the data stored on each phone carried across.
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Staged rebuild
Sections rebuilt in React Native or Flutter one at a time, where a wrapped web page no longer suits the work.
Supporting it, moving it and rebuilding it are different projects
Each trades cost against how much of the old app remains afterwards.
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Stay on Cordova
Lowest cost, on a project that is still maintained. The app builds again and stays in the stores. It still depends on community plugins, and an Ionic 1 app is still on AngularJS.
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Move to Capacitor
Most of the web code is reused and the app looks the same to its users. The iPhone and Android projects are kept as source, which makes them easier to keep current. Old AngularJS code comes along unless it is replaced.
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Rebuild in React Native or Flutter
Nothing depends on Cordova or AngularJS afterwards, and the app feels like a native one. It takes longest, and is only worth it when the app matters to customers or has years of change ahead.
What a Cordova or PhoneGap assessment looks at
Cordova is still maintained. The risk is in the plugins, the build and the store rules. The dates below are from Adobe, Apache Cordova, Ionic, AngularJS, Apple and Google.
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Which versions
The PhoneGap or Cordova version the app was built with, and the versions of its iPhone and Android platforms. Current releases are cordova-android 15.1.0, from July 2026, and cordova-ios 8.2.0, from November 2026. The gap is the size of the upgrade.
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Whether the source is complete
The www folder, config.xml, package.json and the plugin list. PhoneGap Build projects often keep settings in gap: tags that have to be rewritten for Cordova. If the project is lost, the web code can often be recovered from the Android package.
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Plugins
Camera, push, barcode, file and payment plugins, each checked against current platforms. cordova-android 10 dropped the old Android support library, so older plugins often fail to build. Push plugins written for Google Cloud Messaging have to be replaced.
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The web view
Apple stopped accepting new apps that use UIWebView in April 2020, and cordova-ios 6.0.0 removed it in favour of WKWebView. Pages, links and sign in screens that relied on the old behaviour are tested, not assumed.
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Data stored on the phone
Saved sign ins, drafts and offline records held in the web view. Cordova warns that cordova-android 10 changed the address the app is served from, and that data stored under the old one is lost unless the upgrade plans for it.
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The framework inside
Plain JavaScript, jQuery Mobile, or Ionic 1 on AngularJS. Ionic lists version 1 as end of support since 25 January 2017, and AngularJS support ended in January 2022. This decides whether the web code is worth carrying forward.
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Signing keys and store accounts
The Android keystore, the Apple certificates, and who owns the two developer accounts. Where Google holds the app signing key through Play App Signing, a lost upload key can be reset. A key you manage yourself and lose cannot be.
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Store requirements
Since 28 April 2026 Apple has required uploads to be built with Xcode 26 or later. Since 31 August 2026 Google Play has required new apps and updates to target Android 16. Both raise the bar every year.
A PhoneGap app that can no longer be built or updated?
What the assessment needs from you
A fixed-scope piece of work with a written result: the options, the risks of each, and a staged estimate. No production data is sent by email. We agree a secure way to share it first.
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Versions
The PhoneGap, Cordova or Ionic version the app was built with, and when it was last released.
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The source
Whether the full project exists, where it is kept, and whether it has been built since PhoneGap Build closed.
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Plugins
Any plugins you know of, and whether you hold licences for the paid ones.
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Signing keys
Whether you hold the Android keystore and its passwords, and the Apple certificates.
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Store accounts
Who owns the Apple and Google Play developer accounts, and who can sign in today.
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Users and devices
How many people use it, on which phones and tablets, and whether it has to work offline.
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Integrations
The server it talks to, sign in, notifications, payments and anything it scans or prints.
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What is hurting
The two or three problems that started the conversation.
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The way back
How long people can stay on the current version if a new release has to be withdrawn.
From assessment to an app back in the stores
Done remotely, with meeting times agreed to suit your time zone.
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Technical assessment
We establish the versions, what source and signing keys you hold, every plugin the app needs and what the stores now ask of it. You get a written list of options with the risks of each and a staged estimate.
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A working build
The project is made to build for iPhone and Android on current tools, and the result is compared with the app in the stores today. Until that works, no change is safe.
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Proof of concept
One representative piece, usually the hardest plugin replaced or one screen moved to Capacitor, is taken end to end on real phones.
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Staged work
The work is done in stages agreed from the assessment, each with its own scope and estimate, starting with whatever is keeping the app out of the stores.
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Upgrade and user testing
The new version is installed over the old one on test phones to prove that stored data survives, and your staff test the work they do every day.
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Release and support
Each release is planned with a way back. We watch the first days of live use, then keep the app current as Apple and Google change what they require.
What people ask us about Cordova / PhoneGap
Is PhoneGap still supported?
No. Adobe ended development of PhoneGap and closed the PhoneGap Build service on 1 October 2020. Apache Cordova, the open source project PhoneGap was built on, is still maintained and released cordova-ios 8.2.0 in November 2026. So a PhoneGap app has somewhere to go.
The app still works. Why would we move?
If nobody needs a change and it still opens on new phones, you may not have to yet, and we will say so. The trigger is usually a rejected update, a new phone it breaks on, or Google Play no longer offering the app to people on newer Android versions because it targets an old one.
What replaced PhoneGap Build?
Nothing from Adobe. The app is now built with the Cordova or Capacitor tools, Xcode and Android Studio, on machines you or we control. Check the future of any hosted build service first: Microsoft retired the one in Visual Studio App Center after 31 March 2025, and Ionic has said Appflow stays available only through 31 December 2027.
Should we move to Capacitor, React Native or Flutter?
Capacitor when the web code is sound and the aim is to keep the app alive at the lowest cost, because that code is reused. React Native or Flutter when the app has to feel faster, leans on device features, or is on AngularJS and would need rewriting anyway.
We have lost the source code. Is that fatal?
Less often than with other kinds of app. A Cordova app carries its HTML and JavaScript inside the installable file, so the web code can usually be recovered from the Android package, though it may be hard to read. It changes the estimate. It does not end the conversation.
We do not have the signing keys. Can we still update the app?
On Apple, yes, provided you control the developer account, because new certificates can be issued. On Google Play it depends. Where Play App Signing is in use, Google can reset the upload key. Where it is not and the key is gone, the app usually has to be published again as a new listing.
Do you provide Cordova developers in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane?
Yes. We are an Australian team and we take on Cordova work for businesses in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and elsewhere in Australia. Most of the work is done remotely, by video call and screen share, with secure access to a copy of your system. The service is the same in every city: code fixes and updates, migration to a modern technology stack, and ongoing maintenance and support.
How does this work from the United States, the United Kingdom or New Zealand?
Remotely. We are based in Australia and do not have offices elsewhere. Discovery is done by video call and screen share, with meeting times agreed to suit your time zone. Confidentiality, who can reach your systems and where your data is held are agreed in writing before work starts.
What does it cost?
The assessment is a fixed-scope piece of work with an agreed fee. The estimate for anything after it comes from what the assessment finds, in stages, so you are not asked to commit to a whole project on a guess.
Sending your details…
You can stay on this page while we send it.
Tell us about your Cordova or PhoneGap app
What the app does, which stores it is in, whether you hold the source and the signing keys, and what is forcing the question. Include your country so we can suggest meeting times. Please do not send production data.
Prefer a quick chat? Call 0425 531 127. We answer the phone in Perth.
Kasun Wijayamanna, founderYou deal with Kasun from scope to delivery. No account managers and no offshore handoff.