A Deep Dive into 2 Cross-Platform Mobile Apps Written in C++
summary
Concrete claims and outcomes only: Dropbox builds two apps, Mailbox and Carousel, by sharing a shared C++ model for syncing, storage and view models and using a custom JNI bridge to avoid five-file call chains. Moving photo metadata and JPEG buffers into native code removes hundreds of thousands of Java objects and cuts GC pauses that reached ~500 ms, yields consistent animations via a fast change‑set diff, lets iOS/Android reuse logic, and ships features with real tradeoffs in tooling and debugging.
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Intro
- 3:05What was wrong?
- 4:12Possible solutions?
- 5:03Rich App Requirements
- 6:13Mission: Build a Photos App
- 7:05Mission 2: Welcome Mailbox
- 7:47Sync API & Datastores
- 9:42Solution: Leverage C++
- 11:39Architecture
- 21:11Mailbox++
- 25:09Concepts
- 27:39How they relate
- 32:49C++ Wins on Android
- 35:02Win 1: Better Awareness
- 37:46Defeat the GC #1
- 39:23Win 3: Defeat the GC #2
- 41:08Hiding Memory
- 48:06Library choices
- 48:31Lean on me!
- 49:42Did it work?
- 51:41Features with no extra c++
- 52:50Roses have thorns
- 55:26Future work
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