Mobile App Development with Ionic 2, 1st Edition

Chapter 12. Exploring the Ionic Cloud

Ionic is more than just a framework to build mobile applications; it is also a collection of cloud-based services. These services include the ability to compile your application remotely, update deployed applications without resubmitting, and generating the user interface through a visual builder. The focus of the Ionic Cloud is to directly support the actual development of your mobile application. Unlike the Ionic Framework, which is open-sourced, these services require a monthly fee. But don’t worry: most of them have a development version, so you can explore them at no charge—with some usage limitations.

Note

Initially, the Ionic Cloud also contained some additional services like, user authentication, push notifications, analytics, and database support. These services have been or being shut down.

Setting Up Ionic Cloud

Before we can begin using any of the Ionic Cloud services, we will need to create a free Cloud account.

Next, we need to install the Ionic Cloud client in the app. Make sure your active directory is the at the root level of your application. Then run this command to install the client:

$ npm install @ionic/cloud-angular --save

Generating Your Ionic App ID

Before we can configure our app to use the Ionic Cloud, we need to have an Ionic App ID. This a different ID from the app ID found within the config.xml file. Still within your project directory, run this command:

$ ionic io init

This command will automatically generate ...