Mobile internet usage has exponentially increased over the past few years. Meanwhile, desktop internet usage has seen some decline. As a result, marketers must quickly react to the changing behaviours of their consumers, whether it is through an M-Commerce dedicated app or a mobile optimized version of their website. Making the shift from web development to app development may seem scary, but with Appy Pie, it's as easy as pie!
Step 1: Select a topic/category
As a Toronto native and student at Ryerson, I chose a topic of interest to my peers, the lovely Drake, a local celebrity and national treasure.
Step 2: Choose a theme
When choosing a theme, think about how the end user will react to the app. What type of information is most relevant, and how would they find it? Due to the simplicity of the app's contents, I decided to go with Theme 2.
Step 3: Build your app pages
This is where your content goes. Appy Pie provides you with some suggestions that are relevant to small businesses like an about us page, a contact info page, an email inquiry page, and a gallery. For my Drake app, my pages included a feed of his verified Twitter account, his latest tracks through the October's Very Own SoundCloud, and the October's Very Own Blogspot. The great thing about Appy Pie's suggestions, however, is that it doesn't require you to know how to code. Recommended app pages have their own templates.
During this step, you can change the pictures and colours of each page.
Step 4: Publish
There are some restrictions with using Appy Pie as a free user. The biggest disadvantage is that you're unable to edit your app with a free account. There are tiered payment options in which you can track your users with Google analytics, create a custom domain, and set up push notifications.
Step 5: Download my App, "Drake Alerts"
Click the link above to download Drake Alerts for direct updates from Drake. All Drake, all the time.
Step 6: Review Your App
When Drake Alerts went live, I quickly downloaded it to my phone. Eager to get live updates from the 6 God himself, I had to go through another step to actually open up the app. A quick Google search told me that I needed to "trust" Appy Pie in my system settings. Not a very good first impression.
Once everything loaded, I tested out each app page. The SoundCloud playlist did not load, instead it gave me this cryptic image shown below.
Finally, when I attempted to open the blog, the app never loaded it and it crashed.
The inability to edit the app itself made Drake Alerts nearly useless because other than the About Drake page, only his Twitter feed was able to run smoothly, and there's already an app for that.
In summary, Appy Pie is an easy way to create a simple app without any knowledge of coding. I would recommend it for conferences and small businesses, or informational organizations. However, it is critical that you, the developer, try to get someone to try out the app and get some good feedback. With Appy Pie, you are only allowed one edit (as long as you share your app on Facebook) so use your feedback wisely, or you'll have to literally pay for the repercussions.