Mobile surface matrix

What Mob covers — what's solid, what's partial, what's missing. Use this to set realistic expectations before starting an app, and to spot gaps worth filling (either in mob core, in a plugin, or by declaring out-of-scope).

The reference surface is the union of React Native core, Expo SDK modules, and platform-native capabilities both ecosystems have converged on as "what mobile apps need." Many missing items are pluggable — see MOB_PLUGINS.md for the manifest spec.

This doc is hand-maintained from inspection of lib/mob/ and src/mob_nif.erl. If you add a capability, update the matching row.

Legend


✅	Fully present — public Elixir API, both iOS + Android (unless noted)
🟡	Partial — works but limited (single platform, narrow API, or known caveats)
❌	Missing — could be a plugin or future core addition
⛔	Out of scope — requires separate deployment target (widgets, Watch app), or fundamentally incompatible with Mob's architecture

Per-platform columns: ✓ = supported, — = not supported, n/a = not applicable on that platform.

UI components (render tree)

Elements you can use inside ~MOB. The set is intentionally small and orthogonal — composition over a fat component library.

Component	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
`<Box>`	✅	✓	✓	Container with align, padding, background, corner radius, border
`<Column>`, `<Row>`	✅	✓	✓	Flex layouts
`<Text>`	✅	✓	✓	Font, color, size, weight, align, line height, letter spacing
`<Button>`	✅	✓	✓	Tap handler, text, background, fill width
`<Image>`	✅	✓	✓	Local + remote (Coil on Android, AsyncImage on iOS)
`<TextField>`	✅	✓	✓	Keyboard type, return key, placeholder, change events
`<Toggle>`	✅	✓	✓	Boolean switch
`<Slider>`	✅	✓	✓	Min/max/value, change events
`<Progress>`	✅	✓	✓	Linear + circular
`<Divider>`	✅	✓	✓	Horizontal line separator
`<Spacer>`	✅	✓	✓	Layout filler
`<Scroll>`	✅	✓	✓	Vertical or horizontal, scroll observation on iOS 18+
`<List>`	✅	✓	✓	Vertical / horizontal stack with selection
`<LazyList>`	✅	✓	✓	Virtualised long-list with on_end_reached pagination
`<TabBar>`	✅	✓	✓	Bottom tab bar (Material 3 NavigationBar on Android, SwiftUI Tab on iOS)
`<WebView>`	✅	✓	✓	Inline web view, JS bridge, navigation control
`<CameraPreview>`	✅	✓	✓	Live preview with frame stream
`<Video>`	🟡	✓	🟡	Android: ExoPlayer integration pending
`<GpuView>`	✅	✓	✓	Metal (iOS) / GLES 3.0 (Android) fragment shader surface
Custom views via `<NativeView>`	✅	✓	✓	Register a plugin-defined render-tree node type
Date / Time / Color pickers	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
`<SearchBar>`	❌	—	—	Native search bar (UISearchBar / SearchBar). Plugin candidate
`<DatePicker>`	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
`<Modal>` (sheet presentation)	🟡	🟡	🟡	Programmatic alerts + action sheets exist; full sheet-style modal is plugin territory
Pull-to-refresh	❌	—	—	Missing; commonly requested. Plugin candidate
Bottom sheets	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Drawer navigation	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate; mob's nav model is stack-based today

Touch, gesture, input

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Tap / double-tap / long-press	✅	✓	✓	`on_tap`, `on_double_tap`, `on_long_press` props
Swipe (l/r/u/d)	✅	✓	✓	`on_swipe_left`, etc.
Pan / drag gesture	🟡	🟡	🟡	Tap-based; full pan-responder system (like react-native-gesture-handler) is missing
Pinch / zoom	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate; common for image/map views
Rotation gesture	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Hardware keyboard events	❌	—	—	`key_press/1` exists for the test harness but not as a user-facing API
Keyboard show/hide events	❌	—	—	Missing; commonly needed for keyboard-aware layouts
`<KeyboardAvoidingView>` equivalent	❌	—	—	Plugin / core candidate
Apple Pencil / stylus events	❌	—	n/a	Plugin territory
3D Touch / Force Touch	❌	—	n/a	Deprecated by Apple; low priority
Drag and drop (cross-app)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Haptic feedback	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Haptic.tap/1` etc.

Device + system info

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Platform detection	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.platform/0` returns `:ios` or `:android`
OS version	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.os_version/0`
Device model	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.model/0`
Foreground / background state	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.foreground?/0` + `{:device, :foreground/:background, ...}` events
Battery level + state	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.battery_level/0`, `battery_state/0`
Thermal state	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.thermal_state/0`
Low-power mode	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.low_power_mode?/0`
Color scheme (light/dark)	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Theme.color_scheme/0` + `Mob.Theme.Adaptive` (auto-watch)
Safe area insets	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.safe_area/0`
Screen dimensions / pixel ratio	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.screen_info/0`
Locale / language	🟡	🟡	🟡	Derivable from system; no first-class API
Time zone	🟡	🟡	🟡	Use Erlang's `:calendar` directly
Network info (cell vs wifi, type)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (NetInfo equivalent)
Network reachability	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Screen brightness	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Screen orientation lock	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Idle timer / screen wake	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Exit app	✅	n/a	✓	Android only; iOS forbids programmatic exit

Storage

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Key-value store	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Storage` with typed schemas, namespacing
Files API	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Files`, plus `Mob.Storage.dir/1` for app-private paths
External files dir (Android)	✅	n/a	✓	`storage_external_files_dir/1`
Save to photo library	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Storage.save_to_photo_library/1` + Android MediaStore equivalent
SQLite	✅	✓	✓	Via `:ecto_sqlite3` + bundled `libsqlite3_nif.so`
Keychain / Keystore	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (standalone API beyond biometric)
Secure-storage / encrypted-storage	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate

Camera + microphone

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Capture photo	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Camera.capture_photo/1`
Capture video	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Camera.capture_video/1`
Live preview	✅	✓	✓	`<CameraPreview>` component
Per-frame stream	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Camera.start_frame_stream/2` — pushes RGBA frames to `handle_info`
Photo library picker	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Photos.pick/2`
Audio recording	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Audio.start_recording/2`
Audio playback	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Audio.play/3`, stop, volume
Speech recognition	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (SFSpeechRecognizer / SpeechRecognizer)
Voice activity detection	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Audio effects (reverb, EQ)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Camera zoom / focus / exposure	🟡	🟡	🟡	Basic capture works; fine-grained control missing

Connectivity

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Bluetooth Classic	✅	n/a	✓	`Mob.Bt` + Hfp / Spp / Hid sub-modules
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate — common request
NFC	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (Core NFC / Android NFC)
WiFi info / scanning	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate; OS restrictions apply
USB host	✅	n/a	✓	`Mob.VendorUsb` — bulk read/write, custom devices
WebSocket client	🟡	n/a	n/a	Use Elixir libs directly (e.g. `:gun`)
HTTP client	🟡	n/a	n/a	Use Elixir libs (`:req`, `:finch`)
File upload progress	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Background download/upload	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
mDNS / Bonjour	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Sockets (raw TCP/UDP)	🟡	n/a	n/a	Use Erlang's `:gen_tcp`/`:gen_udp`
Mob.Dist (BEAM clustering)	✅	✓	✓	Hot-push, device → desktop connection

Sensors

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Accelerometer	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Motion.start(:accelerometer, ...)`
Gyroscope	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Motion.start(:gyro, ...)`
Magnetometer	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate; `CMMotionManager` / `Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD`
Barometer	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Proximity	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Ambient light	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Pedometer / step counter	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Compass / heading	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate

Location

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
One-shot location	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Location.get_once/0`
Continuous updates	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Location.start/1`, stop
Background location	🟡	🟡	🟡	Mob's foreground-service keep-alive lets updates continue while backgrounded; not a true background-location API
Geofencing	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (`CLCircularRegion` / `Geofencing API`)
Significant-change updates	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (iOS)
Mock-location detection	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Reverse geocoding	❌	—	—	Use third-party API for now (e.g. Mapbox)

Notifications

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Local notification scheduling	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Notify.schedule/2`, cancel
Push notification registration	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Notify.register_push/0` → token to `handle_info`
Push delivery via APNs / FCM	✅	✓	✓	Via `mob_push` Hex package
Notification tap handling	✅	✓	✓	Foreground + background + cold-start (`take_launch_notification/0`)
Notification actions (buttons)	❌	—	—	Plugin / core candidate
Critical / time-sensitive flags (iOS)	❌	—	n/a	Plugin candidate
Notification grouping / threading	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Badge management	🟡	🟡	🟡	Basic only

Background tasks

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Foreground service / keep-alive	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Background.keep_alive/0`
Background fetch (silent periodic)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (iOS Background Tasks framework / Android WorkManager)
Silent push handling	🟡	🟡	🟡	Push arrives but no dedicated "wake-and-handle-then-suspend" lifecycle
Background URL session	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Scheduled jobs (periodic / one-shot)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (WorkManager equivalent)

Auth + payment

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Biometric auth (Face ID / fingerprint)	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Biometric.authenticate/2`
Apple Sign-In	❌	—	n/a	Plugin candidate (common requirement for App Store)
Google Sign-In	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Sign in with X / Facebook / etc.	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
OAuth flow helpers	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate; can mostly be done from Elixir
In-app purchase (StoreKit / Play Billing)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate; sensitive — needs receipt validation
Apple Pay	❌	—	n/a	Plugin candidate
Google Pay	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Passkeys / WebAuthn	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate

ML / Vision

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
QR / barcode scanning	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Scanner.scan/1` — full-screen scanner with format filtering
TFLite model inference	✅	✓	✓	Via `mix mob.enable tflite` (mob_dev 0.5.7+) — NNAPI/MTK on Android, Core ML delegate on iOS
Nx-based inference	🟡	🟡	🟡	Via `nx_eigen` exploration; not formalised
Apple Vision framework wrappers	❌	—	n/a	Plugin candidate (text recognition, face detection, image classification)
Apple Foundation Models (LLM)	❌	—	n/a	Plugin in flight — see mob PR #8 (DRAFT)
MLKit wrappers (Android)	🟡	n/a	🟡	Barcode scanning uses it under the hood; other models (text, face, pose) are plugin territory
OCR (text recognition)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Face detection	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Pose detection	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Speech-to-text	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Translation	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Smart Reply	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate

Maps

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Native map view	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate (Apple Maps / Google Maps)
Annotations / markers	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Polylines / polygons	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
User location display	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Map tile providers (Mapbox, etc.)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate

System integration

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Clipboard	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Clipboard.put/1`, `get/0`
Open URL (deep linking, browser)	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Device.open_url/1` — picks browser, mail, tel, etc.
Share sheet (text)	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Share.text/1`
Share sheet (image / file)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Document picker	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Files.pick/1`
Action sheet (iOS-style menu)	✅	✓	✓	`action_sheet_show/2` via Mob.Alert
Toast (Android-style)	✅	✓	✓	`toast_show/2` — implemented on both platforms
Alert dialog	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Alert.alert/2`
Vibration patterns	✅	✓	✓	Via `Mob.Haptic`
App settings page (open)	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Calendar events	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Contacts	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Reminders (iOS)	❌	—	n/a	Plugin candidate
Permissions facade	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Permissions.request/2` for camera, microphone, photos, location, notifications

Accessibility

Capability	Status	iOS	Android	Notes
Accessibility labels / hints	🟡	🟡	🟡	Some component props expose this; not uniform across all components
Screen reader announcements (imperative)	❌	—	—	Plugin / core candidate
Focus management (programmatic)	❌	—	—	Plugin / core candidate
Reduce-motion preference	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Bold-text preference	❌	—	—	Plugin candidate
Dynamic type / font scaling	🟡	🟡	🟡	iOS automatic via system size; explicit override needed
RTL support	🟡	🟡	🟡	Layout-engine level; no explicit `I18nManager` equivalent
Accessibility test inspection	✅	✓	✓	`Mob.Test` reads the AX tree for assertion-based UI testing

iOS-only platform features

Capability	Status	Notes
Live Activities / Dynamic Island	⛔	Requires Widget Extension target — separate from main app; not a Mob template today
Widgets (home + lock screen)	⛔	Same — Widget Extension target
App Clips	⛔	App Clip target; not in Mob templates
Watch app companion	⛔	WatchKit target; not in Mob templates
Share extensions	⛔	Share Extension target; not in Mob templates
Today extensions (deprecated by Apple)	⛔	—
Background App Refresh	❌	Plugin candidate
Apple Pencil events	❌	Plugin candidate
Multi-window (iPad)	🟡	App runs but no first-class multi-scene API
Split View / Slide Over	🟡	Same as multi-window
Picture in Picture (video)	❌	Plugin candidate
Universal Links / Custom URL Scheme	🟡	Open URL works; route registration is per-app, no unified API
Handoff / NSUserActivity	❌	Plugin candidate
Spotlight indexing	❌	Plugin candidate
App Shortcuts (Siri integration)	❌	Plugin candidate

Android-only platform features

Capability	Status	Notes
Home screen widgets	⛔	AppWidgetProvider — separate component, not in Mob templates
Quick Settings tiles	⛔	TileService — separate component
App Shortcuts (long-press launcher)	❌	Plugin candidate
Picture in Picture	❌	Plugin candidate
Multi-window	✅	Works via resizable activity flag
Split-screen	✅	Works via resizable activity flag
Foldable / large-screen support	🟡	Layout adapts; no first-class foldable APIs
Auto Backup	✅	Honored by default per AndroidManifest
Doze mode handling	❌	Plugin candidate (alarm/wake-up scheduling)
Direct Share	❌	Plugin candidate
Notification channels (configurable)	🟡	Default channel works; per-app multi-channel API is partial

Architecturally not present (and probably shouldn't be)

Item	Why
JavaScript / TypeScript runtime	Mob's host language is Elixir/Erlang/Gleam on BEAM; bridging JS would defeat the architecture
React reconciler	Mob has its own render tree; no React VDOM under it
CSS / Yoga flexbox engine	iOS uses SwiftUI layout; Android uses Compose layout; both are native flexbox-equivalents
`XMLHttpRequest` / `fetch` polyfill	Use Erlang/Elixir HTTP libraries directly (`:req`, `:finch`, `:gun`)
Babel / Metro / bundler	BEAM bytecode replaces JS bundling; `mix mob.push` ships `.beam` directly

How to use this matrix

Starting a new app: scan the ❌ rows first to see what would need to be a plugin or worked around.
Reporting a gap: if something here is wrong (mob has a capability I missed, or partial that's actually full), the doc is hand-maintained — please open a PR or flag it.
Filling a gap as a plugin: see MOB_PLUGINS.md for the manifest spec. Most ❌ rows are plugin candidates (tier 1 or tier 2 depending on whether they ship UI).
Filling a gap in core: when a capability is universal enough (every app needs it, both platforms support it cleanly) it's worth landing in core rather than as a plugin. The boundary is fuzzy; raising a discussion before doing the work is the right call.

This matrix isn't a roadmap commitment — it's a snapshot of reality. Some ❌ rows may stay ❌ for a long time because no one's asked. Others will land via community plugins. The intent is honest disclosure, not a promise of feature parity with React Native.

MOB_PLUGINS.md — plugin manifest spec for filling missing capabilities without merging into core
RELEASE.md — release process if you're shipping a new capability that lands in core
guides/styling.md — visual styling for the components above (tokens, themes, dark mode)
guides/support_matrix.md — minimum OS / ABI / SDK supported (a different "support matrix" — platform versions rather than capabilities)

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