Frontback
By Checkthis Inc
Frontback is a fun new camera app. Take a photo with the front camera, another with the back camera, and share them both in a single image.
The app was lovingly built using RubyMotion, got excellent coverage in the press, and was selected by Apple as one of their "Best New Apps!".
It was very clear that I was going to build Frontback with RubyMotion.
Melvyn Hills didn't find it possible to build Frontback using Web technologies. A native app was needed. He didn't know iOS, but he knew Ruby, so he gave RubyMotion a try.
After a few days, Melvyn enjoyed RubyMotion so much. It was so easy to get on tracks simply by reading the iOS APIs documentation. With a Web-frontend background, he felt at home. Not having to use Xcode was also a big win.
Behind the curtains.
With over one million downloads, Frontback is one of the most deployed RubyMotion app. They got a lot of press, and thanks to Ruby's concise syntax and dynamism, they were able to keep adding new features and refactoring the code base at peace.
Frontback uses the BubbleWrap wrapper to implement a lot of iOS concepts, such as HTTP, Pub/Sub, JSON, location and timers, as well as a lot of Objective-C libraries via the CocoaPods package management system.
The team uses RubyMine to debug the code, and Reveal to debug the user interface.
"With RubyMotion, it’s easier to get on board. Every line you write is needed application logic, nothing more. The fact you don’t have to use Xcode is a big win."
Melvyn Hills, Co-founder, Checkthis Inc
Read the full interview on our blog