Hotwire Native
Shares rank 9 of 13 cross-platform UI frameworks by recommenders
Lets people take a working web app and migrate it to native iOS and Android apps, bringing Rails-style ease to mobile. Main caveat: everything requires network round trips.
Lets people take a working web app and migrate it to native iOS and Android apps, bringing Rails-style ease to mobile. Main caveat: everything requires network round trips.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Turns web app into iOS and Android apps
“the easiest way to take a functioning web app and migrate it to native mobile apps on both iOS and Android”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Rails UI” “That you can now use it iOS and Android apps too makes it a simpler alternative to React IMHO.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Django 6” Easy to create app store apps
“the easiest way to take a functioning web app and migrate it to native mobile apps on both iOS and Android”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Rails UI” “Hotwire Native makes it easy to create an app store app for each.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Matz 2/2: The trajectory of Ruby's growth, Open-Source Software today etc.” Praised as useful and a great option
“Hotwire and Hotwire Native are amazingly useful tech.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Building an HTML-first site doubled our users overnight” “Hotwire Native would be a great option”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Please just try HTMX”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Requires network round trips
“easier to maintain, albeit with the downside that everything requires network round trips”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Building an HTML-first site doubled our users overnight”
Other cross-platform UI frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other cross-platform UI frameworks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flutter | 171 | 106 | 62% | 12 | 3 yrs11 owners | — |
| React Native | 98 | 128 | 43% | 12 | 8 yrs7 owners | — |
| Kotlin Multiplatform | 27 | 12 | 69% | 9 | 2 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Expo | 21 | 10 | 68% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Hotwire NativeThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This is the only way I can make apps now.”
“easier to maintain, albeit with the downside that everything requires network round trips”
“Hotwire and Hotwire Native are amazingly useful tech.”
“the easiest way to take a functioning web app and migrate it to native mobile apps on both iOS and Android”
“Hotwire Native makes it easy to create an app store app for each.”
“it truly does bring “the ease of Rails development to native mobile app development””
“Hotwire Native would be a great option”
“You could use Hotwire Native for that.”
“Hotwire Native tbh wouldn't have been a bad choice at all to use tbh.”
“That you can now use it iOS and Android apps too makes it a simpler alternative to React IMHO.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.