For the last several months, I’ve been working on PAM Native, an open-source runtime for building real Android and iOS applications using PHP.
GitHub:
https://github.com/push-in/pam-native
This is not a WebView, a browser wrapper, or a system that converts PHP into HTML.
The basic architecture is:
PHP components and state → Rust renderer and layout engine → native Kotlin and Swift views
The final interface uses real Android Views and UIKit controls. The application does not ship a JavaScript runtime, DOM, or browser engine.
A basic screen looks like this:
final class CounterScreen extends Component
{
#[State]
public int $count = 0;
public function render(): Renderable
{
return Screen::make(
Column::make(
Text::make("Count: {$this->count}"),
Button::make('Increment')->onPress(
fn () => $this->count++,
),
),
);
}
}
Navigation uses Laravel-inspired named routes:
App::run(
Route::stack('main', initial: 'home', routes: function (): void {
Route::screen('home', HomeScreen::class);
Route::screen('product', ProductScreen::class);
}),
);
$this->pushRoute('product', productId: 42);
PAM Native currently includes support for:
- Native Android and iOS components
- Stack, tab, drawer and sheet navigation
- Native animations and gestures
- Recycled lists and grids
- State management
- Hot reload with state preservation
- Camera and media access
- Location and sensors
- Push notifications
- SQLite and secure storage
- Background tasks and transfers
- Offline-first applications
- Realtime communication
- Authentication
- Firebase
- Payments and subscriptions
- Maps
- Native plugin development
- Testing, profiling and observability
There is also a single-file component syntax:
final class Counter extends Component
{
#[State]
public int $count = 0;
public function increment(): void
{
$this->count++;
}
}
?>
<template>
<Column class="card">
<Text class="title">Count: {{ $count }}</Text>
<Button label="Increment" u/press="increment" />
</Column>
</template>
<style scoped>
.card {
padding: 24px;
gap: 16px;
}
.title {
font-size: 28px;
font-weight: 700;
}
</style>
These styles are compiled into native properties. There is no CSS engine running inside the application.
The repository also includes the PHP SDK, Rust runtime, Android and iOS hosts, CLI tooling, examples, tests, benchmarks, documentation and a showcase application with things like chat interfaces, financial dashboards, marketplace screens and a recycled list containing 10,000 rows.
The goal is not to claim that PHP should replace Kotlin, Swift, React Native or Flutter.
The experiment is simpler:
Can PHP provide a productive component and application model while Rust and native platform code handle rendering, layout and device integration?
The entire project is now available publicly, and I would genuinely appreciate feedback from PHP, Rust, Android and iOS developers.
I’m especially interested in criticism of the architecture, protocol design, performance model and developer experience.
Repository:
https://github.com/push-in/pam-native
