How to build your own app when you can't code

Abah Moses

Sat, 21 Dec 2024

How to build your own app when you can't code

Sites like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace make drag-and-drop websites make drag-and-drop websites a breeze while Shopify and Woocommerce let you make a web store during your lunch break. Easy app creation has lagging behind in this area, but that has changed drastically over the last few years. You can now use a range of sites to quickly set up an app, without extensive computer skills, and we’ll take a look at five of those sites below.

Of course, the kind of apps you get from these tools tend to be relatively easy. You still need to be able to code or hire a coder to create more complex apps and games. But for simple form-based or information-based apps, these services will do just fine. In particular, you can create an app that may not give you millions, but it will add value to existing businesses or websites. For example, if you have a content-based site or an online store, you can create an app that makes it easier for people to shop or sort your items by pressing the screen.

Start with it

Before we can compare the services you can use to create your own app, you will need credentials as an app publisher so that you can distribute and/or sell your creations.
If you want to distribute apps for Android through the Google Play Store, you must sign in with your Google Account here, accept the terms and conditions, and pay a $25 registration fee. To become an app seller for the iOS platform through the iTunes Store, you need to go here, pay an annual fee of $99, and sign in with your Apple credentials. After this initial cost, both Google and Apple will take up 30 percent of the revenue once your app is published.

Five app development platforms

AppyPie

The slogan for this web-based app builder is, “Make an app, easy as a cake.” Say what you want about the slogan, but it is correct; you can really create an app on this site without too many clicks or design knowledge. You start by choosing your app’s category and then a basic layout. Then browse through a demo of the app on a sample screen phone, you can adjust the text and add pages, colors, photos, media, links and more. You have a fairly robust control over the flow and architecture of the app and the site responds particularly well.
Prices range from a free plan that includes AppyPie ads in your app and allows you to customize your creation for 48 hours, to $15, $30, and $50 monthly subscriptions that offer unlimited app editing and increased platform distribution. For example, the $15 subscription allows you to only build apps for Android, while the $50 plan includes all major platforms, including Microsoft and Apple.

AppMakr

With a significantly less smooth interface than AppyPie, AppMakr is still easy to use. It excels in creating icon-based apps. As with AppyPie, you get a mock-up from a smartphone and you can drag icons directly to the screen from a drop-down menu on the right. However, unlike AppyPie, apps created through this tool are better at linking to content than in offering native content. For example, drag and drop the "blog" icon and you'll be prompted to enter your blog's RSS feed address. The same for the "news" function. But if you have an existing blog or website, it provides an easy way to make it mobile available. You can also change the appearance of each icon and customize the background image. However, changes in architecture are not as robust as AppyPie.
If you use the free version of AppMakr, you can create an ad-free mobile website. With two euros a month, you can develop an Android app with AppMakr branding; With $39 per month, you can create up to ten Android apps without branding and publish your app wherever you want, while receiving the source code; and $99 per year you can publish an Android app to the Google Play Store or an iOS app on iTunes without branding.

AppInstitute

This is a very user-friendly online app builder. A distinguishing factor is that when you start with the process of creating apps on this site, you are asked to choose a template based on your goals, such as: "Sell content," "Retrieving bookings" or "Loyalty" by clicking on the tab that best matches your needs, you can further refine your app by choosing the right category, such as "church," "restaurant," or "good" goal.
Another unique feature of AppInstitute is that after you choose your base template, you can enter your phone number and send you a link to your pre-made app immediately. Of course you want to spend some time to make it your own, but it’s a fun feature to get the satisfaction of a working app within seconds. (It is also a smart way in which AppInstitute can find out your phone number.)
Although AppInstitute is generally well appreciated, we have found in our tests that it responded slowly, often shocks and a bit counterintuitive in terms of customizing your app. However, there are good videos and a live chat service that allows you to get started fairly quickly.
This service is also by far the most expensive we have tested, with monthly subscriptions ranging from €40 to $115 per month. If you want to publish an Android-friendly app, you’ll need to pay $70 per month, where you can also access an iOS version of your app for the $115 price.

GoodBarber

Despite its strange name, GoodBarber is a solid choice for online app building. It puts the smartphone mock-up at the front and central to its designontology, so you can click through the app as if it were live and your changes are going to take effect immediately. While this makes your app’s logic very easy, designing it makes designing it a little harder.
Suppose you want to change a text block in the app. It would be logical that you would only click to click on it. However, this does not work. Since the app is 'live', you can click on everything to go to the relevant part of the app. To make changes to sections, you need to use the navigation tools on the right, which will break the design process in various parts, such as menus, icons, and sections. This takes some getting used to and requires more clicks than the other apps mentioned here, but once you master it, the level of customization is really impressive.
GoodBarber also provides app checking tools so that before you are ready to publish an Android version of your app, you have a checklist of completed items and items that still needs to be repaired (such as naming your app). The site offers a 30-day trial period, after which it costs $35 per month for an Android app and $99 per month for Android and iOS.

GameSalad

While information-based apps can add value to your business, games allow you to create an app that really offers the potential to make money. A quick look at the best-selling iOS apps shows that more than half of them are games, with other top spots being largely occupied by free entertainment and social media apps like Hulu, Netflix, and Facebook.
If you want to create your own game and sell it via iTunes or Google Play, GameSalad offers a great way to give it a try. Unlike the other app creators in this list, GameSalad consists of software that you need to download to your desktop. The company says you can make a game in as little time as an hour, but in reality it takes a little longer, even if you start with one of their pre-made but customizable games. The software is not really dragging and dropping, so you will want to spend some time going through the video tutorials to get the system under control.
When you are ready to publish your game, you pay a fee of $ 29 per month and you can publish to all major platforms, including Android and iOS.