NativePHP Air: Build Native Mobile Apps with Laravel for Free

Your Laravel skills are about to become a lot more valuable. The NativePHP team just dropped a bombshell: NativePHP for Mobile is now completely free. Not a trial. Not freemium. The full framework to build native iOS and Android apps with Laravel—zero cost.

This isn't just a pricing change. It's a complete architectural overhaul called NativePHP Air that makes the entire mobile development experience faster, leaner, and more extensible than ever.

What Changed (And Why It Matters)

The biggest shift is the move from a monolithic core to a modular plugin system. Previously, NativePHP bundled everything together. Now, each piece of native functionality—camera, file access, device info—lives in its own Composer package.

This means your compiled apps only include what you actually use. Smaller binaries. Faster reviews. Cleaner codebases.

Installing a plugin is as simple as:

1composer require nativephp/mobile-camera
2php artisan native:plugin:register nativephp/mobile-camera

That's it. The camera is now available in your Laravel app, complete with all the Swift and Kotlin code compiled directly into your native builds.

Free Core, MIT Licensed

The stripped-back core is now fully open source under the MIT license. This opens the door to community contributions and gives developers complete transparency into how their apps are built.

Nine essential plugins ship free and MIT-licensed:

• Browser - Open URLs in native browser
• Camera - Photo and video capture
• Device - Device info and identifiers
• Dialog - Native alerts and confirmations
• File - File system access
• Microphone - Audio recording
• Network - Connection status
• Share - Native share sheets
• System - System info and utilities

Premium plugins (Biometrics, Geolocation, Push Notifications, Scanner, Secure Storage) are available as one-time purchases through the new Plugin Marketplace. Pay once, use forever, unlimited projects.

Jump: Test on Real Devices Without Compiling

Here's where it gets exciting. Jump is a free companion app for iOS and Android that lets you test your NativePHP app on a real device—without compiling anything.

1php artisan native:jump

Open the Jump app on your phone, scan the QR code, and your Laravel app loads directly on the device. No developer mode. No Xcode. No Android Studio. Just scan and go.

This is a game-changer for rapid prototyping. Make a change in your code, see it on your phone almost instantly. Jump even includes all premium plugins for testing, so you can try everything before buying.

The only catch: Jump won't work with third-party plugins since they need to be compiled into the app.

Mimi: AI-Powered Mobile App Development

For those who want to move even faster, Mimi brings vibe coding to mobile development. Think of it as having Claude build your NativePHP app while you describe what you want.

• Create projects from your browser (works on mobile too)
• Describe features in natural language or voice
• Test instantly in Jump
• Ship to the app stores from Mimi

Mimi requires a Bifrost subscription and your own Anthropic API key. It's the fastest path from idea to deployed app—powered entirely by Laravel and PHP.

The Plugin Marketplace

The new Plugin Marketplace is where all NativePHP plugins live. First-party plugins are already available, and the NativePHP team is opening it up to third-party developers soon.

This creates a genuine opportunity: build a camera filter plugin, a payment gateway integration, or any native functionality the community needs, and sell it through the marketplace. It's a revenue stream for Laravel developers who've never had access to the mobile ecosystem before.

Getting Started Today

NativePHP Air is available right now:

1laravel new my-mobile-app
2cd my-mobile-app
3composer require nativephp/mobile
4php artisan native:jump

Four commands. That's all that stands between you and testing a native mobile app on your phone.

For existing NativePHP users, the upgrade path is straightforward:

1. Remove the old NativePHP repository from composer.json
2. composer remove nativephp/mobile
3. composer require nativephp/mobile (v3 from Packagist)
4. Install the plugins you need and register them

Why Free? Why Now?

The NativePHP team was always planning to make Mobile free eventually. License sales funded the development of sustainable revenue streams like Bifrost and the Plugin Marketplace. With those in place, they're betting that free adoption will accelerate the ecosystem faster than paid licenses ever could.

More developers building mobile apps with Laravel means more Bifrost subscriptions, more plugin sales, and more contributions to the open source core.

What This Means for Laravel Developers

PHP developers can now build native mobile apps without learning Swift or Kotlin. Without paying for expensive tooling. Without maintaining separate codebases for iOS and Android.

Your existing Laravel skills—routing, Livewire, Blade, Eloquent—all transfer directly to mobile development. The same codebase runs on web and mobile with minimal modifications.

The barrier between "Laravel developer" and "mobile developer" just disappeared.

Want to dive deeper? Laracasts has a free video course covering NativePHP basics for both mobile and desktop.

Based on recent posts from Laravel News