“As I said, men value their independence in a weird way, above practically everything.” – George Weinberg
Post updated March 25, 2015.
Build Me Up, Buttercup
Just as the internet did, the app market is beginning to cater to people that see the potential. There are thousands of people looking for a way to get started (especially on the cheap) without any programming, design, or marketing experience.
They have an idea and want to make it a reality.
Similarly, a lot of companies want to have an app that they can point people to but don’t want to invest into something expensive. It can be as simple as a news feed app – they just want a presence in the app world.
Because of this clear demand in the market, companies have sprung up that allow people with no coding experience to build an app themselves. The service offering is a smooth, easy integration that will get anyone an app for free.
No iPhone developer required. You don’t need to know how to code an iPhone app.
I decided to do a little research myself and signed up for one of these services that advertises themselves as the “No experience needed!” type deals. They sell the uber-simpleness of their offering and how a caveman can do it.
I wanted to see where these companies were at and how they navigated the complex world of app creation and app publishing.
More importantly, I wanted to be able to provide objective insight for everyone reading this blog who’s wondering if this is a good idea. Can you really create iPhone apps without coding, by using this software?
So, I signed up for www.appmakr.com – probably the biggest player out there right now. I’m going to talk about three separate pieces of this experience – the build, the publishing, and the ROI.
Here’s what happened when I tried to learn how to build an iPhone without hiring a developer or doing any coding.
The Build – How to Build an iPhone App Without Hiring a Developer
When you start building your app, this is how the interface is going to look (after all info is added). I chose to do a Triathlon News app because the triathlon market is WIDE open for apps (someone go steal that idea and make an awesome triathlon app – you will make a ton of money.) I used the Add Another Tab area (PURPLE BOX) to add RSS feeds and some photo feeds. You can see the “preview” of your app on the right side in real-time, a nice bonus.
What this is doing is taking the RSS feed and parsing it into an easy to read format on the phone. These can be blog posts or news articles coming off of the main website. They have a nice RSS search engine built in so it really is easy find the RSS feed of choice.
You have a few other options as you can see (Photo Album, Post message tab, etc) and I used the photo album for the Flickr Feed. It’s good to mix it up so that Apple will approve your app, otherwise they’re going to say it doesn’t have enough functionality to qualify as an app.
This took me a total of about 20 minutes to do. You will need to create an icon and a header image (seen above).
They have a Google Image search that you can use to make a quick and dirty version, just be careful about using images that are on the open internet. I’d recommend making those yourself if you know how to use Photoshop, or just keep it simple and plain.
[sc name=”Position – 1 – Shortcode” ]
The rest of the Build experience was pretty easy – App Info refers to things like the meta description and keywords. You’ll use this all again in your iTunes account when you upload, it’s more for record keeping and if you pass the job off the Appmakr (more on this later).
The Monetize tab is where it gets weird, which I’ll talk about in a second. It gives you the option of leasing the app for $79/mo in exchange for full ownership of the ads and having total control over the app….sort of.
So – the build side of things is actually pretty sweet. You can get up and running very little time and ready to publish your app.
Unfortunately, that’s where the headaches start.
PUBLISHING
I’m not going to get into a “how to publish apps on appmakr” type post, but I will say this: I’m a pretty seasoned iPhone app publisher and it took me a few tries to get this right.
I spent about 4 hours going from start to finish, getting everything lined up correctly.What that translates into someone with no experience is hard to say.
Looking back, it’s not as complicated as I originally thought, but they don’t make it terribly easy for the lay person to do it. If you’ve never gone through the entire publishing process, especially with a third party, this is going to be a BIG investment of time.
You basically need to have Appmakr create the permission slip for you to publish the app and use their Push Notification services. This allows you to upload their software build of your app into your own iTunes account.
They have a wizard that helps and good step by step instructions, but you still need a working knowledge of iTunes Connect, provisioning profiles, push notifications, App IDs, and certificates. I had a hard time understanding that the Private Key I had for my developer certificate had to be re-done so that I could grant AppMakr access.
If that sounds French to you, imagine trying to actually do this all yourself 🙂
What Appmakr does offer, however, is a service that will do this all for you and then seamlessly integrate into your account. I think it costs a couple hundred bucks.
Once you get everything locked an loaded into your developer profile, you’ll submit it to the app store and wait a week for it to be reviewed.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Here’s where it gets a little tricky. The biggest offering of these sites like Appmakr is that it’s free and easy to use. And it is – it cost me nothing to build this app and submit it to the store. They put ads into the app which is how they make money.
The trick is for apps like this, you need to make them free to get any sizable download numbers (which will make you zero money, but will make Appmakr some) or you have to charge for the app which will maybe make you a few bucks a week.
What Appmakr does is offer you a $79/month per app service that gives you full control of the app – you get the ad revenue and can build the app as many different times as you’d like.
But – I can hardly imagine anyone makes more than $79/month off of a news type app that Appmakr puts out. There might be some that are superlative and can break that barrier, but I doubt it.
I released my Triathlon News App free and had about 60 downloads, then 30 the next day, then smoothed out at 1o or so. Then I made it paid and I’ve had 4 downloads in about a week.
[sc name=”Position – 2 – Shortcode” ]
Bottom line – you won’t make much money off of these apps. If you just want an app for your blog or for your business, then it’s actually not a bad gig. You can point people to the app and get extra traffic.
None Shall Pass
In the last 6-12 months Apple has seriously tightened their belts on the app review process. They are keeping a much closer watch on people submitting apps that are just news feeds or uber-simple apps that are essentially templated out.
This is the language they use for Rejection reason 12.3:
” We found that the experience your app provides is not sufficiently different from browsing a content aggregator web site, as required by the App Store Review Guidelines.
While your app may facilitate access to content from a range of web sites, even when including features such as Push Notifications, the experience it provides is not significantly different from using Safari. Such apps do not include enough native iOS functionality to be appropriate for the App Store.
We encourage you to review your app concept and evaluate whether you can incorporate additional features to enhance the user experience. “
Similarly, you may see Rejection reason 10.6 which states:
“We found the user interface of your app is not of sufficient quality to be appropriate for the App Store. Apps that provide a poor user experience are not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.
We have found that your app does not take advantage of the iOS platform. It would be appropriate to add iOS specific UI and functionality rather than displaying just text and feed views.
Please evaluate whether you can make the necessary revisions to improve the user experience of your app. “
I have submitted about 5 apps that I made on AppMakr, all of which scored very high on the “Likely to be Approved” scale and keep getting these messages back.
What you can see happening here is that Apple is moving about 2 months behind these iPhone app template sites to make sure the functionality is unique and great. Appmakr is going 200mph in order to add more functionality like Sharing on FB, Twitter, Email along with dozens of other bells and whistles.
It’s a very tough game to be in because the market is constantly evolving.
I’m telling you this because there is a very real possibility that your app is going to get rejected from the store – these apps are by no means a sure thing.
The ability to have a template that is easy to update and can have a high guarantee of approval is a gold mine in the app market – you can product hundreds of apps that are loaded with Ads, creating both a fleet of money makers and a terrific barometer of market demand.
Hope this helps! Please leave a comment if you have had experience with AppMakr or any other service like it.
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Carter
Thanks Carter. As a complete newbie I’ve struggled with the AppMakr publishing procedure for about 2 days. Glad it’s not just me. Also very interesting to read that all my efforts, if successful, may be thwarted by Apple. Think I’ll go back to the day job.
Yeah, Chris. It’s definitely gotten worse lately in terms of the review process. For good reason – they are so strict now. Sometimes it’s the reviewer that gets your app, sometimes it’s just the app.
I tried doing appmakr about 6 months ago when I didn’t know much about provisioning profiles and almost lost my mind. It’s definitely not the “turnkey” process it appears to be, despite it’s tools and benefits.
Thanks for writing,
Carter
So, what do you recommend that newbies do? I have had a product idea that I tested (real world, hands on product) that may be more successful as an app experience. My programming experience is from way back (Fortran) and some Matlab. I have been reviewing online courses to see if I want to learn app development (since I don’t have big bucks!). What do you suggest?
Hey Cindy,
A lot of it depends on complex the app is going to be. You’ve got two things to think about – one is the cost of entry and the other is the cost of time. If you hire out a developer and it costs you $5,000 to build the app, you’ll get it in 6 weeks (plus or minus) and have the rest of the year to make money with it. If you try to program the app yourself, you’ll have to learn everything about Xcode or whatever platform you’re in well before you can build out the app. It took me about 6 months to be comfortable in Xcode and I definitely can’t program myself, but know exactly how it all works, etc.
I’m a huge believer in spending your time doing what you’re good at. If the best use of your time is programming, then program. If it’s coming up with the business model, do that. If it’s marketing the app, do that. Everything else should be done by someone else who is the best at their respective field of work. You’re going to get the best product possible this way.
In terms of where to start, I would take your idea and make it as simple as you can while still being able to create a revenue model off of it. Clearly define the idea and map it out exactly as you would like it to work. Then hire out the project for development on Elance for whatever you can afford. I would also recommend taking some Xcode training if you can swing it because it’s going to give you the ability to modify the code once it’s sent and also to know what’s possible when discussing functionality with developers.
I don’t know what your budget is and I can appreciate people trying to make this happen on a shoestring budget, but also remember that if you don’t believe in this idea so much that you’ll max out your credit cards and work 18 hours a day to make sure it’s a success, you may be in for an uphill battle. This is one of the most competitive markets out there – meaning if you can rise to the top, you’ll retire. If you don’t, you’re going to waste a lot of money.
Hope that helps,
Carter
Thanks, Carter, for taking the time to respond. Very good advice and good reality check.
Cindy
Hey Carter!
Excellent post. Thank you for the feedback on AppMakr. The program overall looks amazing but a little complicated coming from someone with little to no programming experience. My question to you is would something like this be for someone looking to build a basic app and anything requiring more innovation would be looking in the wrong place correct? I guess you get what you pay for when you use a program like this. Definitely not knocking it in no means, just looking to see if I could actually build a program with a touch of innovation behind it. Thanks Carter!
Thank you,
Brian
Hey Brian,
Hmm..well yes and no. Appmakr does have a functionality that allows you to upload a custom tab with HTML embedded in is. This gives you a little bit of creativity, but not much. I personally haven’t tried that yet, but would imagine that it’s just a matter of uploading some HTML that will be displayed accordingly.
If you’re interested in games, GameSalad is like the Appmakr of games. I did a similar test where I tried to build a game using one of their templates (which you then have to re-skin) and it was a similar process. The learning curve is much more on the execution side and they take care of a lot of the provisioning. The conclusion is the same – it’s not as easy as it looks.
I think it’s important to be clear about the two parties that Appmakr-type sites are targeting – those with no programming experience and those with little to no budget. If you have little to no budget and lots of time, it’s worth your while to learn how to use Xcode, Photoshop, etc. You really can’t be too “innovative” without some money unless you want to build it yourself or trade a programmer your skills somehow.
Those with no programming experience and some money to spend should focus on hiring a developer to do simple tasks for them. One idea is to hire someone to build Appmakr apps for you. You send them all the information and they do the entire process for you. Kind of a cheap way to leverage the system. The other option i find works when you have no programming experience is to have a developer copy an existing app. That way you’re not going to have to deal with all the small details that programmers love.
More than anything, I stress education if you can swing it. Understanding how Xcode, provisioning profiles, and Photoshop work will save you (and make you) more money than anything else out there. I certainly can’t program an app, but when a developer sends me an Xcode project to test, I know exactly what to do and how to give them valuable feedback. Knowing the capabilities also helps you think about new possibilities for new apps, thus furthering your own innovative pursuits.
Hope that helps,
Carter
Carter,
Just a quick question, do you know how does the rank system work in android market? In other word, how to become the top list of these apps, any tips you can share?
Hey Tim,
I believe the rank system works the same as it does in Apple – it’s all based on downloads and revenue. On the backside, Google is monitoring these numbers the same way Apple is and automatically positioning the rankings as such.
To become the top of those lists is a pretty big question. If you read my ebook there is a pretty good strategy for spiking your app to the top of the charts. You’re going to want to go all in for one day and see if you can everything to drive your app up there for one day via promotions, blogs, reviews, everything.
Good luck!
Carter
The information in your post about iPhone is more interesting. and this info is more useful for the developers to develop the iPhone apps. Thanks for share this valuable info.
Hi Carter,
Idea of building an app in minutes using AppMakr sounds so cool. I just have this question, can I use any RSS feed available on internet to make an app? Lets say I want to build a movies based app by adding 4 or 5 feed URLs in a specific theme.
Thanks again for your great work
Hey Raj,
You bring up an important point and one that I feel very strongly about. To answer your question directly – you cannot use any RSS feed because not all RSS feeds are created equal. Some don’t parse well and get clunky in the Xcode framework. You can do some work arounds, but its hard to have a one size fits all model.
This is for everyone out there who’s tempted by these turn key models and pieces of software that claim that you can manufacture hundreds of apps in little to no time with no programming experience. You’re in for a RUDE awakening. Ever wonder why the guys who are promoting these tools aren’t actually using the software themselves? Why don’t they say “Hey check out these 5 apps I made using this software and here’s how much money they’re making.”
You also have to remember that Apple is not a pushover when it comes to getting your app approved. If it’s a simple app that provides no real value to the user, they’re going to reject it. I’ve tried many different RSS style apps and had them all rejected with the exception of that Triathlon app I mention in the article.
To build an RSS app that’s going to work you need to invest in a slick layout, like Flipboard or something similar. You have “use iOS native functionality” for Apple to approve it – simply displaying a text feed will get you no where and will get you close to no downloads/money.
Just remember that there are very few success stories when it comes to these services. Look around – why isn’t anyone saying “Hey look at how much money I’m making with Appmakr” or any of the others. It’s all smoke in mirrors, at least in my opinion.
I also urge anyone who’s made a lot of money with these apps to let me know so that I can find out what makes you different from the hundreds of other people out there.
Good luck Raj.
Carter
Hi Carter,
Amazing article for newbies like me. I read all other articles written by you as well. You seem to be the Master of App Making. Could you please inform the best and least economical way, so as to develop a good App? I am ready to give in 100%. I am a newbie so a detailed help will surely help me.
Thanks a lot for this Article.
Akshay.
Well, Akshay, the “best” and “least economical” are definitely not going to be the same thing. Least economical is to learn how to build them yourself – the problem with that is you’re going to have to spend 5,000 hours over the next year getting there. But it will be cheap.
Second option is to hire a firm overseas to do it very cheap.
Third option is to buy source code from an app already in the store and re-make it (that’s what I usually do).
The best way to do it is plan out a great app, hire the best developers and designers in the game, offering them a piece of the action so that they work extremely hard, and then blow out your marketing.
Glad you enjoyed the article. Best of luck to you!
Carter
Hey Carter,
How do you buy source code from an app? Do you have a list of the top 10 tools that you use when “creating” apps?
Hilton
Hi carter, gret article with useful info. Can you recommend a few overseas app developers? I have a very basic content app I’d like to get developed. Thanks!!
Amie,
Check the Mobile App Developer list at the bottom of the website. It’s a good place to start.
Good luck!
Carter
Hi Carter
i came across a company that has templates for businesses who wants to build apps for their companies. It has all the standard functionalities like push notifications, gps, qr codes, scheduling, shopping carts, loyalty programs etc and they can turnaround very fast like
idea to app mock-up – in less than 2 hours
complete app development with testing done- less than 7 days
Android market store – within 24 hours after submission
Apple market store – ranging from 14 – 45 days
They are marketing this solution for USD3000 per year (just pay once for across android, apple and html 5 platform) and each year renewal is USD3000 but customers can maintain contents for their own site.
Is this a good deal ? would companies want to pay USD3000 a year to renew ? do developers normally charge for each year renewal (good money to make since their customers would already have downloaded their apps and connected thru them this way).
Thanks for any feedback.
rosalind
Hey Rosalind,
It’s hard to say if it’s a good deal or not. What is the ROI you’re looking for? If it’s money, then chance are you’re not going to get a good deal. Any turnkey template like that will not make much money. If it’s for credibility and ease of use to get into the mobile market, then maybe it can be a good solution.
The thing about that price point is that you can get it done for a lot cheaper, but you’re going to have more headaches. So, my advice would be that if you’re fired up and want to spend a lot of time building something that will be great for the same amount of money (with a MUCH smaller yearly cost), then hire your own developer. If you’re more interested in running your business and not building an app, have a conversation with these guys and see what they have to say.
Good luck!
Carter
Hi Carter,
I love your article. I’m considering going the route of an elance developer. Is it usually pretty straightforward to make updates to my app once its developed? For example, I want to create a site for my event planning business and we may have hundreds of current events at one time. I want to developer to create the platform, but I will need to make continuous updates to the actual events. How can I ask for this app functionality where I can easily make these updates? Thanks!
Hey Mona,
You’ll want them to build something that will hook into your current database, then provide you with a CMS (content management system). This is like a WordPress Dashboard or “mission control.” Any CMS will allow you to easily update and manage all the data. That way you can control what’s being presented without having to call them every time.
Good luck!
Carter
Good post 🙂 I started off making apps two years ago. I wasn’t a programmer but during my Christmas holidays I thought “this stuff can’t be rocket science” (!!), there must be some kind of wordpress equilivant for building apps out there.
Anyway – long story short, in between Christmas and New years I sat down and went through pretty much every type of app builder that was out there at the time. Most of them were pretty bad – you only had a few default screens, they looked crap and usually had really high fees. I was kinda looking for something that was 1) cheap 2) really customisable 3) good support and help if you got stuck.
Anyway, after ploughing though God knows how many bad app builders, I found buzztouch.com. Bearing in mind I didn’t own a mac and had never even heard of Eclipse (that software still frightens me lol!) on day 7 (New Years eve) I had my first app published – for free – on Android. I nearly jumped through the roof when it went live!! Two months later I had about 8 or 10 on Android, had bitten the bullet and bought a second had macbook for €550 and my first app was published on iTunes. This was all pretty unreal for a horse trainer 😀
Obviously since then things have tightened up in terms of getting apps into iTunes. Buzztouch is now really getting like wordpress.. you start off with the basic screens then you can buy various plugins from a couple of bucks (photo effects, photo gallerys, sound players, etc) and jazz up your apps that way. One guy on there made $22,000 in the last six months (yes, seriously). They do have fees now, but they’re I think $30/month or less and you can make your first few apps for free.
Anyway… this was the start of it all for me (I’ve got into outsourcing & flipping now as well, and very proud to be able to reskin, integrate chartboost & revmob & publish myself these days!). I would not be making apps today if I hadn’t stumbled across that website.
If anyone wants a quick overview I put together a video here: http://www.udemy.com/how-to-build-a-mobile-app-yourself-in-30-minutes-for-free/
So! Thanks for the blog Carter, you’ve definitely inspired me and others. I can’t make the app empire day out in Dec but will be watching online & looking forward to hearing yourself, Trey & Gui 🙂
Elaine.
Hi Carter! Your article is awesome. I am a REAL newbie, as in I just got my first smartphone this past summer and I have yet to buy a paid app, I’ve only downloaded a handful of free apps. I just bought a tablet this past black Friday and I literally just downloaded Kindle books last week (I am stuck in the stone ages!). However, years ago I wrote several children’s books that I never published due to publishing costs, but I want to publish it. If I use one of these “easy, just type in the words and well do the rest” type app companies, will that also get my book app rejected from the apple and android markets? What are my options? I am willing to pay because I do NOT want any adds in any app I make (free or paid apps) it’s just annoying as a parent! Also if you know of any great easy book app creator companies please let me know. Thanks in advance!
wise woods, carter. worth for a newbie to read!
i got some simple apps out there using gamesalad and buzztouch(i do make a miniscule amount from it),though i believe plenty of apps out there make $0.
I still feel that to be able to really get a quality app worthy of appstore financial success,
you’ve GOT to learn to code in C.
i’ve never got around to learning it yet though! 😛
Agreed on all fronts. Those turkey “free” sites can make money making apps, but the dollars are usually very small. The opportunity cost is also terrible. Think about your hourly rate – if you spend 20 hours making an app that makes $20, you’re saying your time is worth $1. Ouch.
Learning Obj-C is awesome. I highly recommend learning enough to navigate Xcode, then getting overseas workers to do the heavy lifting. It will slash costs and skyrocket productivity.
Carter
Hi Carter,
Thanks for all the articles you publish!
You mentioned the App Code, and I wonder if you see it as another “No Programming Skills Required” software, with more or less the same limitations pointed out in this article, or do you think it is a good option to start?
Thanks!
Yosi
Yosi,
I dont know much about the App Code. I think flipping apps is the way to go, personally. Buy a game, then reskin it many times.
Carter
Hi Carter,
First off, great article Carter, I just wanted to share with you my experience with app building websites. When I first got the idea of making a mobile app for my business I touched upon Appmakr first and just was not satisfied. I continued my research and came across http://www.appsbar.com and have to say this was exactly what i was looking for. They practically hold your hand and walk you through the entire app making process allowing me to leave no mistakes as a build my app. I had fun making my app and was allowed to come up with very creative ideas to advertise my business. The site has their own marketplace where my clients could go and download my app by searching for it or scanning the QR code which makes it easy for them to find my app and access its content. The only problem that i had was with the banner colors, they only allow you to use the ones they provide for you but I still made due with their several option. I’d advise before heading to Appmakr to try out Appsbar for your app building website.
Alex
I would like to create an app for my whole site approx 200 pages to include my adsense codes
As I only have some knowledge of html and own the copyright of all images what would you suggest?
Hey Carter,
You mentioned that the best way to making a good app is by flipping apps. My question is how does one go about doing this? I have read some of your articles but can never find how exactly do you flip apps.
Thanks! Jesse
Hey Jesse,
Flipping apps is a general term for adding value to apps. That can be taking bad apps and making them great, or re-skinning source codes. You might benefit from signing up for the source code email list and seeing some of those, then reading the comments. It has a lot of info on that stuff.
Carter
I am considering creating an app for a small, newly organized college. It will basically be for prospective students and will consist of short testimonial and informational videos. Does anybody have an idea of the likelihood of something like this getting approved?
Hi Carter,
Thank you for the great post! I am the co-founder of a platform called druidwiz which helps users create content rich apps very easily. One can create books, references, presentations and quizzes through this platform and launch them as standalone apps in the android and apple app stores. Flashcard feature will be added soon. These are actual apps instead of site urls which most of the app maker sites cater to nowadays. I would request you to visit http://www.druidwiz.com to check it out. Also download the druidwiz app from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.druidendo.android.druidwizreader to see the kind of content our users have already created.
I would also like to take this opportunity to reply to the question posted by Deb sometime earlier about publishing children book apps. The druidwiz platform is ideal for publishing something like this. Deb can create the book and publish is to the Druidwiz store which can be accessed using the Druidwiz android or iphone app. All for free. To publish a separate app there is a small fee involved. Request Deb to check out the Children’s Bedtime Stories app that was created using the Druidwiz platform and got over 1000 downloads in the first month itself.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.druidendo.android.druidwizreader.bedtimestories
Hey, just went to AppMakr and saw this
Please use this time to rebuild and publish any existing apps to get the latest bug fixes and features. As of today (early next week) you will also be able to download the source code for your existing apps so that you can maintain the app’s source long after AppMakr is no longer available
Any suggestion for a good alternative?
Darren
@Darren – Yeah AppMakr went down for various reasons. There really aren’t any alternatives. The best option is re-skinning, in my opinion. Buy cheap source code and change the graphics. Refer to my “Source Code” section for more information.
Hi Carter,
I have written a couple of simple engineering apps for android (phones), and a number of my contacts have asked when I will be doing the same thing for the iphone.
My understanding is that you need an Apple computer to develop Apple apps.
A friend who is an apple user has suggested I buy a used Apple mini, but I would like to know the minimum amount of hardware I would need to buy were I to try producing Apple equivalents to the Android apps.
Can you explain what I would need?
Graham
Hi Carter,
Any pointer to marketing tactics for the apps. I think it plays a big role, what are the current ways to market the apps and create the buzz?
Thanks,
Parry
Carter,
I currently have an idea for an app I would like to get on the market. It is a sort of social media app that would be similar to Facebook. Something that would be no cost to download. The thing is well I know nothing about any of this and just have the idea. Feel like it is really something that could take off. I am worried about presenting this idea to anyone (who may want to purchase the idea) who may want to steal it. Not sure if that would be an option. I would much rather have it developed and own the app but have no clue how to go about it or who to contact. I have around 10k I could spend on developing. Can you help?
Hi Carter,
Thanks for all the great info. I have an idea for an app that has nothing to do with my company, which is a small online t-shirt company. It is a simple game that I believe would have a lot of appeal. There are no crazy or 3-D graphics. I’d like to get your input on the best way to proceed.
Thanks!
Hello Carter,
The post it very informative but I could not understand the ownership part of the app. Does AppMakr own the app you develop and earn money from it? and also, you can only lease the app for $79/month and can never have/buy the full ownership of the app you developed?
Basically, who is the full owner of the app if you developed the app on AppMakr? and if I am not the owner of the app how do I own it with a one time payment and no leasing?
Thank you.
From my research around appmakr and the other similar sites, I concluded that they are not worth it. If you want a simple app, just hire someone from one of the freelancer sites to make it for you so you don’t have to pay any monthly fees or display ads that you are not profiting from.
Hi carter, do you recommend any developers?
@Chris – I don’t have too many that I recommend personally for various reasons. What kind of developer are you looking for? I may be able to point you in the right direction.
Hi carter – we are looking for a developer to create an app that you can input data then randomly choose from the data input – have you seen urban spoon where you can “shake” data then it returns an answer? Similar to that but def not as detailed as urban spoon
@Chris – OK cool. Your best bet is to wireframe out the entire app and spend most of your time in the planning phase. You need to know exactly what you want. Have you downloaded the free ebooks? The Hiring a Developer book can help you a lot for this kind of thing.
Hi carter
Understand the recommending issue – perhaps you could list a few for me to research and choose on my own?? Thanks and happy new year!
Hi Carter,
So after reading your blog I feel even more dumb than before lol. I am completely lost. I am what you call a newbie. I don’t have any fancy high tech advanced devices. Honestly, I still have the original adroid phone. Anyways, I am interested in creating an app. Honestly I was interested in selling the idea to one of the big phone companies because I honestly think this idea is the next big thing (although I am sure a lot of people think that about their ideas). Everyone who I have said something about my idea to, suggest that I create
Hi Carter:
I am an engineer by training and work experience and have no knowledge of App creation and the programming required. I have an idea based upon filling a need that I perceive as needing to be filled. I am not sure that an App can be created to fill this need, but would like to discuss the idea with someone like yourself who would give me advice as to whether an App is feasible. I can put some money into development and am open to some sharing in a venture based on the idea and the potential App development. I look forward to your response.
David Keefe
@David – Right on, thanks for reaching out. Are you interested in programming yourself? Or do you want to hire a programmer? Or do you want to hire a firm to do everything?
What you choose will determine what advice I can give. Other option is you schedule a 15 min call on Clarity and we run through this and I answer everything you want quickly – https://clarity.fm/carterthomas
Hi Carter,
How does one protect their app idea from being copied using appmaker?
Can appmaker develop apps that include GPS location, Time stamp, Live time average record stats from entries within same location (provided by app users), Live voting poll, Bet wager volume stats, Live chat, Video upload, Photo upload, Comment line, and more.
I’m guessing my requirements are too complicated for appmaker and need an expert app developer to make it for me?
Lastly, How do I make sure the app developer I hire does not steal my idea and run with it?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Carter,
Amazing article for newbies like me. I read all other articles written by you as well. You seem to be the Master of App Making. Could you please inform the best and least economical way, so as to develop a good App? I am ready to give in 100%. I am a newbie so a detailed help will surely help me.
Thanks a lot for this Article.
Brian
@Brian – thanks Brian! Have you downloaded the ebook yet? That’s got the best information for something like this. Short answer is hire an outsourced developer if you want something custom built OR buy a source code from a marketplace.
Carter, Who do you recommend to build an app professionally for the $5000 budget that has the best potential to get on the App Itunes market?
Kir Noel
@Kir – I don’t have a recommended team. But in our Bluecloud Select group people are sharing their developers all the time. I’d recommend joining (at least for the trial) and asking for an introduction. I would also recommend being more specific about what type of app, timeline, etc. The free ebooks can help with that – also available in Bluecloud Select. Join here: http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/join-bluecloud-select
Hello Carter,
The article is so nice. The points you describe are very interesting. But I think it very difficult to to develop any application without hiring a developer. So it is better to hire a professional app developer.
I am considering creating an app for a small, newly organized college. It will basically be for prospective students and will consist of short testimonial and informational videos. Does anybody have an idea of the likelihood of something like this getting approved?
Carter, thanks for the info. How do you make money with an app? I’ve an idea for personal safety that runs in the background and should be ad free to be stealthy how does one approach the game store or apple store to make money?
Well, Carter, you have shared some brilliant ideas in your blog and I would like to focus on them and try to make an iPhone app so that I don’t need to hire any professional for it.
Cheers!!
@Jade – that’s great! Do you have any specific questions we can help you with to get you started? You can also reach us at support@bluecloudsolutions.com