Remote Ruby Bridge Components, Swift UI and more with Joe Masilotti
Feb 20, 2026
Joe Masilotti, independent developer and Hotwire Native advocate who builds Bridge Components and PurchaseKit. He talks about how Bridge Components deliver native features via server-driven HTML. He discusses wrapping UIKit for SwiftUI compatibility and why native fidelity matters on iOS. He also covers the complexity of in-app purchases and how PurchaseKit normalizes Apple and Google webhooks.
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Hotwire Native As The Default Mobile Path For Rails
- Hotwire Native can become the default mobile path for Rails apps by combining web-rendered content with native chrome for high-fidelity UI.
- Joe argues the framework's strength is delivering Apple-level navigation and tab-bar polish that other cross-platform frameworks struggle to match.
Bridge Components Unlock Native Features With HTML
- Bridge components let you ship native features by packaging native code and wiring it from server-side HTML, avoiding heavy client-side development.
- Joe highlights features like biometrics and on-device ML becoming accessible via a small HTML/JS integration backed by native gems/packages.
From Client Work To Polished Bridge Components
- Joe built many bridge components by extracting repeated client work like QR scanners and iterating based on user requests.
- He credits AI (Claude) for catching obscure edge cases, such as undocumented biometric lock error codes on company-managed devices.
