Mobile App Builders: The Free and the Not So Free

by Kai Dailey - Thursday, September 21, 2017, 10:46 PM

​

Here's a quick guide to a few app creators useful for data collection and content delivery. Using supplemental mobile to break out of the LMS platform to provide on-demand, context specific learning or to provide custom tools, such as data collection apps, can enhance the relevance and fidelity of an online course.

 

Zoho Creator (Almost free)

 - options offered 
$5 Monthly per user price (no minimum number of users) provides all the basics to create a functional, integrated mobile app. Up to 3 apps and 25,000 records. The next step up per user is $19 per month, which includes 50 apps and adds extras like language support and a developer's sandbox. Then there's two enterprise levels for unlimited users at $199 and $1999. 

- ease of use - can a novice use them to develop an app from scratch
With Zoho Creator it's fairly easy to use. However in order to make something more advanced than a simple data entry form, some basic understanding about which functions are needed to get some fields working is required.  
  
- from the ID point of view, comment on the documentation/support provided on using the tool 
Zoho offers a very comprehensive support library with videos, ebook and regular webinars. The support is general in nature but enough to get a novice started. There's also a very large, established developer community, so it's easy to find conversations about particular problems with a Google search.

 - what are the best/worst aspects of the tool 
Zoho's form builder is easy and intuitive to use when it comes to actually building the UI. It also works well with webhooks at the $5 level. However troubleshooting form functions and creating relationships between forms can be challenging.

- as an ID would you recommend this to your clients, or would you use it to build your own mobile app
Yes, Zoho is a strong enterprise-worthy product. I would use it to create a mobile app.

Microsoft PowerApps (Free for Office 365 subscribers)

 - options offered 
Free for Office 365 subscribers. Next level is $7 per user per month offers a wider selection of data sources. There's also an enterprise level of $40 per user per month.  

- ease of use - can a novice use them to develop an app from scratch
A novice can quickly make a simple data entry form by selecting the data source and letting the builder create a default app. The app can be shared with others who are also subscribers and can be viewed on mobile using PowerApps Mobile for Windows, iOS, or Android. 
  
- from the ID point of view, comment on the documentation/support provided on using the tool 
At the free level basic documentation is available including videos, articles, and a section called Guided Learning, which serves as a mini-course for the service, plus webinars are also given regularly. Development forums are also available.

 - what are the best/worst aspects of the tool 
The best aspects of this tool are the predefined templates for phone and tablet; the default builder feature that creates UI based on a pre-existing data source; and the app runs in the browser while you're building it. Worst aspects is that it doesn't create a stand alone app but requires the installation of PowerApps for Mobile. 

- as an ID would you recommend this to your clients, or would you use it to build your own mobile app
For organizations that are using Office 365, I would recommend looking into this service. I might use it to build my own mobile app depending on the purpose. It certainly would be useful for field data collection. However I don't use Office 365 to store data. And if I did build an app, I would want something that doesn't require downloading a separate app to run it. 

GitHub and Adobe PhoneGap Build (Creative Cloud subscribers get the premium level free)

So this is a cool option for the more code inclined. PhoneGap pulls code from GitHub Repos and compiles apps for multiple mobile platforms at the same time. So if you feel like shopping for some free apps on GitHub, PhoneGap Build will compile them for you. 

- options offered 
At the free level, you can build one app 50 MB maximum size. The next level is $9.99 a month for 25 apps at 100 MB max. Or CC subscribers can create 25 apps up to 1GB. 

- ease of use - can a novice use them to develop an app from scratch
This is not for the beginner, but there's plenty of info out there to walk a novice through the basic steps. And there's plenty of free apps on GitHub to experiment with. 
  
- from the ID point of view, comment on the documentation/support provided on using the tool 
The tutorials are limited and the development community isn't well developed. Troubleshooting for the novice will be frustrating. This is meant to be an open source tool, so you kind of get what you pay for here. There are some videos on Lynda.com about this service, which are informative. 

 - what are the best/worst aspects of the tool 
The simultaneous auto compiler is pretty cool. Pulling in the code from GitHub is as simple as pasting the URL into PhoneGap Builder. Not going to be very useful for a beginner who might prefer to fiddle with a drag and drop builder.

- as an ID would you recommend this to your clients, or would you use it to build your own mobile app
I might mention this to clients, especially those who are paying for CC already and who have access to some kind of IT support. I'd also recommend it to someone who wants to learn more about coding. 

BONUS:

These two are not free but really excellent, if you need to provide enterprise clients with some interesting and very reliable app building options.

GIS AppStudio - If you've got some time, checkout this very fun MOOC Do-It-Yourself Geo Apps by Esri. There's lots of eLearning potential here. For organizations that run ArcGIS Platform, adding the GIS AppStudio is easy. For history courses, geology, etc. I would be hunting around the university campus to see who's got access to this and suggest building a simple app for students. It's easy to make narrated tours, treasure hunts, etc. And it's fun to use. This produce is obtained for enterprise level pricing. I've only built with this for fun. 

iFormBuilder Zerion - I used this product to built a small data collection app for a client. It's easy, stable and just plain works. The form builder is drag and drop. Tons of pre-built functions. Well documented. No surprises. Strong support options. Zero troubleshooting was needed for the app I built. (I mean when does that ever happen?) However, last year they stopped supporting small business and now service only large enterprise clients. The lowest pricing level is $5000 a year. Very disappointing. I'd have to sell a lot of small biz apps to pay for that. And small business clients can't afford that kind of expense. But again if you are working with a large client who is looking for options to build field apps quickly and easily as well as a trouble free way to connect to existing data sources, check this company out. It's an outstanding product. 

​