Building Mobile Apps with Blazor WebAssembly
Blazor WebAssembly (WASM) lets you run .NET code directly in the browser, making it possible to build mobile-ready applications using C#, Razor components, and standard web technologies. While Blazor WASM does not natively compile into an app-store-ready mobile binary, there are three major paths to make mobile apps with it.
✅ 1. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) with Blazor WebAssembly
This is the simplest and most popular approach.
What you get:
Offline support
Installable app on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS
Push notifications (with some platform limitations)
Access to limited device APIs (via JS)
How to do it
Create a Blazor WebAssembly project as a PWA:
dotnet new blazorwasm -o MyMobileApp --pwa
Add or customize:
manifest.json → icons, theme, display mode
service-worker.js / service-worker-assets.js → caching rules
Pros
Fast development
No app store required
Works offline
Pure Blazor WebAssembly
Cons
Limited device access (must use JS interop)
Some restrictions on iOS (PWA sandbox limitations)
✅ 2. Blazor Hybrid with .NET MAUI (Best for App Stores)
If you want a real native mobile app, this is the preferred solution.
What happens here?
Blazor Web UI runs inside a native WebView
Runs on iOS/Android/Windows/macOS
Can access full native device APIs
Distributed via App Store / Google Play
How to start
dotnet new maui-blazor -n MyMobileApp
Pros
Access to all device APIs
App store deployment
Performance close to native
One codebase for Web + Mobile + Desktop
Cons
Heavier than WASM
Requires .NET MAUI tooling and build pipelines
✅ 3. Wrapping Blazor WebAssembly with Capacitor or Cordova
Useful if you prefer a fully browser-based approach but still want native packaging.
How it works
Build Blazor WASM normally
Use Capacitor or Cordova to wrap it in a WebView
Add plugins for device features (camera, geolocation, etc.)
Typical toolchain
Capacitor (Preferred; modern)
Visual Studio / VS Code
Android Studio & Xcode for builds
Pros
Lightweight
Full access to device features via JS
Rapid development cycle
Cons
Requires JS + Capacitor plugins
More manual setup than .NET MAUI
📱 Accessing Mobile Device Features
Regardless of method, you can use JavaScript interop to access features like:
Camera
GPS
Accelerometer
Contact list
Notifications
Storage
Bluetooth (via Web Bluetooth API)
Example: JS interop call
await JS.InvokeVoidAsync("navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition",
DotNetObjectReference.Create(this), "OnLocationReceived");
🔧 Recommended Project Structure
Shared
Razor components
View models
Business logic (services, DTOs, models)
Platform-specific
JS interop wrappers
Native MAUI APIs (if hybrid)
Example layout:
/Shared
/Client (WASM)
/Mobile (MAUI)
/wwwroot
🧪 Testing & Debugging Mobile Blazor Apps
Use Chrome dev tools for PWA debugging
For .NET MAUI:
Use Hot Reload
Device emulators (Android/iOS)
For Capacitor:
npx cap run android
npx cap run ios
⭐ Best Practices
Enable Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation for performance
Use lazy loading
Minimize JS interop where possible
Use local storage or IndexedDB for offline mode
Ensure responsive layouts (Bootstrap or Tailwind recommended)
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