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Run Your Apache Cordova App on Windows Phone

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In Visual Studio 2013, the Cordova tools are released as a preview (CTP) version. Cordova tools will be released as part of Visual Studio 2015 and we recommend that you now use Visual Studio 2015 RC to develop apps using Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova. You can download Visual Studio from the Microsoft Download Center.

Visual Studio provides these two options for deploying your app built with Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova on Windows Phone:

  • Windows Phone emulator

  • Windows Phone device

Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows Server 2012 R2 (with Desktop Experience enabled) is required to deploy and run your app on Windows Phone.

You can choose either Windows Phone 8 or Windows Phone (Universal) as your deployment target. When you choose Windows Phone (Universal), the generated project is an APPX package, which is a native Windows Store app targeting Windows Phone 8.1. If you choose Windows Phone 8, the generated project is a XAP package; Windows Phone 8 apps for Cordova are hosted in a Silverlight WebView control.

Note

You can attach the Visual Studio debugger when targeting Windows Phone 8.1, but not Windows Phone 8.

Run your app on the emulator

Follow these instructions to run your app on the Windows Phone emulator. For additional information, see Run Windows Phone apps in the emulator in the Windows Dev Center.

To run your app on the emulator

  1. Make sure that Hyper-V is enabled on your PC. Your PC must support the Windows Phone emulator system requirements.

  2. With your app open in Visual Studio, choose Windows Phone 8 or Windows Phone (Universal) from the Solution Platforms list. If you don’t see this list, choose Solution Platforms from the Add/Remove Buttons list to display it.

  3. Choose one of the emulators, such as Emulator WVGA 512MB.

  4. Press F5 to start the app.

    Visual Studio starts the emulator and runs the app.

    Running an app on the Windows Phone Emulator

Run your app on a Windows Phone device

Follow these instructions to run your app on a Windows Phone device that is connected to your PC.

To run your app on a device

  1. With your app open in Visual Studio, choose Windows Phone 8 or Windows Phone (Universal) from the Solution Platforms list. If you don’t see this option, choose Solution Platforms from the Add/Remove Buttons list to display it.

  2. Choose Device.

  3. Press F5 to start the app.

    Visual Studio starts the app on the connected Windows Phone device.

Download the toolsGet the Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova or learn more

See Also

Concepts

Install Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova

Debug Your App Built with Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova

Package Your App Built with Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova