When Max Lynch, Ben Sperry, and the earliest team members first started working on Ionic back in 2012, their mission was simple: to empower web developers with great tools for delivering incredible mobile experiences. There wasn't a grand plan to build a commercial business; just a shared passion for empowering developers with innovative solutions, and a commitment to open source as the best way to reach the greatest number of developers.

As the years went by, reality set in. To keep the lights on and support the open-source mission, Ionic had to find ways to fund its operations. This led to the creation of commercial offerings that complemented its open-source tools. The result was a range of innovative products and services designed to help developers build, deploy, publish, and update their apps more efficiently.

Ionic Appflow was one such offering, initially envisioned as a mobile backend as a service (MBaaS) but eventually evolving into a mobile DevOps platform focused on helping developers streamline the app development process. From there, Ionic added support and advisory services for teams building mission-critical apps and introduced enterprise-grade solutions like Identity Vault, Auth Connect, and Secure Storage to tackle security and privacy challenges.

Fast forward to October 2022: Ionic joined forces with OutSystems, a leading provider of low-code development platforms. Since then, the company has focused on supporting and maintaining its open-source products, including Ionic Framework and Capacitor, which form the core of OutSystems' mobile stack.

What's Changing

Today, Ionic has announced that it will discontinue new customer sales for all commercial products and services, including Ionic Appflow, Identity Vault, Portals, and other paid components of its ecosystem. Current customers can expect a multi-year process of discontinuing maintenance and support services. During this transition period, the company is committed to remaining in close communication with its customers to ensure ample time for continuity planning. In certain cases, options for continued long-term use may be available.

For developers using Ionic commercial products:

  • Appflow users: You can continue to access the platform until December 31, 2027.
  • Enterprise customers: Ionic understands that the discontinuation of sales and support may cause disruption. To support its enterprise customers during this transition, the company will offer an option for continued use and self-service maintenance and support of its commercially licensed software, including Identity Vault, Auth Connect, Secure Storage, Portals, and Enterprise AppFlow.

If you have questions or concerns about these changes, please reach out to Ionic at [support@ionic.io](mailto:support@ionic.io).

Reaffirming Our Commitment to Open Source

Most importantly, Ionic's open-source software, including Ionic Framework and Capacitor, will remain free and open source. These offerings form a significant portion of the OutSystems mobile stack and will continue to be maintained and improved.

Looking Ahead

We're incredibly grateful to our community for your love and support over the years. This is a new chapter for Ionic - one that allows us to double down on our original mission of empowering developers with the best open-source tools for building amazing mobile experiences.

-The Ionic Team