# Ionic app - ngCordova web based application

**URL:** <https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-app-ngcordova-web-based-application/11904>\
**Category:** tutorials\
**Created:** [October 29, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-app-ngcordova-web-based-application/11904 "2014-10-29T10:29:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![developeronex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@developeronex](https://forum.ionicframework.com/u/developeronex)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-app-ngcordova-web-based-application/11904/1 "2014-10-29T10:29:45Z")

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Hello All,

I have been using ionic for a while for doing web based mobile sites, I haven’t used ngCordova or cordova plugins. I have got a new requirement to access camera and send the images back to server.

can I use cordova in a web application (not a app)?

For example, say if my website is going to be [www.sendmyphoto.com](http://www.sendmyphoto.com) in home page if I have a button, and when i click the button, can i call cordova camera plugin to load the camera?

I mean from chrome/safari browser in mobile or tablet?

If its possible, please give some directions how I can achieve this?

Kind Regards  
DeveloperOneX

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**Author:** ![weeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ba0ec/32.png) [@weeman](https://forum.ionicframework.com/u/weeman)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-app-ngcordova-web-based-application/11904/2 "2014-10-29T11:27:41Z")

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Hello,  
ionic is designed to work on mobile devices, not as web apps. Nevertheless it should run in browsers. Ionic/Cordova wraps web apps in a native app. When you use a cordova funtion (e.g. camera access) it uses the native platform functions. This is not possible using a web app inside a browser.

For your specific use case, accessing the camera, you may use the html image input type. This shows a “gallery select / camera” action on most devices.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![developeronex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@developeronex](https://forum.ionicframework.com/u/developeronex)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 11:31am UTC](https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-app-ngcordova-web-based-application/11904/3 "2014-10-29T11:31:24Z")

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Thanks mate.

I was able to do with input type file and capture using camera. Thought will be better if there is a support with ng cordova.

Thanks for your input.

Kind Regards  
DeveloperOneX

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**Author:** ![mhartington](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ionicframework/user_avatar/forum.ionicframework.com/mhartington/32/137757_2.png) [@mhartington](https://forum.ionicframework.com/u/mhartington)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/ionic-app-ngcordova-web-based-application/11904/4 "2014-10-30T17:03:24Z")

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This seems to be simple misunderstanding of cordova.

Soo cordova is really just a native webview that can call native code (obj-c, java, c#) and access functions on device. Ionic is just the UI layer. Ng-cordova is a set of angular services for working with cordova plugins.

So if your ionic app is running as a web site (just a warning, not really the purpose of ionic), you are not going to be able to use any cordova functionality, since it’s not compiled as a native app.