The process of creating an app with App Inventor can be divided into 4 parts
- Designing
- Connecting the Blocks
- Testing
- Publishing
B.T.W to use App Inventor 2 you need to also have Google account to sign in.
Designing:
To design an app using App Inventor you have to make use of different components.
- Some components are for user interaction like button – Which when tapped or clicked allows the app to perform any function
- Some are used to arrange and align other components for a good look and good interaction. – Like Horizontal arrangement, vertical arrangement and more.
- Some components are used to save the data – Like Tiny DB e.t.c
- Some are used as sensors – Clock, pedometer e.t.c
So; in the design section, you drag and drop different components that you want to use in your app project and then; you change their default properties and align them properly for a good design.
Connecting the Blocks:
Every component has a different feature which we want to customise and use in our app. In the Blocks section, you can manage the features of components which you have added on the Screen. In addition to the blocks of different components, some built-in blocks like math blocks, boolean (true or false) blocks, text blocks are available that will help you to manage and customise the use of different components A combination of blocks is used to perform specific tasks. For example; If you want to change the background of the app when a user clicks a button then; you can create such a task here in the blocks section using a few built-in blocks and blocks of the button. In simple words, we are going to use blocks to communicate with a mobile phone to perform specific tasks or operations.
Testing the apps:
Initially; after we have Completed designing and connecting blocks we assume everything is perfect but; once we test the app it is usual that most of us will discover many errors. You need not feel bad about the errors because they are common. However; you need to find a solution and eliminate an error for your app to run smoothly.
The process of developing an app is a cycle of these three steps; It’s often essential to repeat those steps, again and again, to design the app properly and to eliminate all the errors. Because no one can develop a perfect app within a single go. In-App Inventor you can easily test the app with the help of an AI companion; AI companion is an android app which you can download at the Play store. It allows you to test any of the projects as many times as possible without downloading it.
Publishing the app:
After several iterations of the previous 3 steps, you may finally have developed a perfect app which is ready to be shared with others. Sharing your app by uploading it to cloud services like Google drive is ok if you are sharing it with your close friends and family members. But, if you’re wanting a large audience to download your app then, it is better to upload it to a marketplace like Play store where they will check your app and make it easy for a large number of android users to discover your app and install it on their devices. You need a Google play console account to publish your app to play store. It costs a one time fee of about $25. There are even other platforms like the Amazon app store etc if you want to publish your app for free. So, this is a brief explanation of how to create apps with App Inventor. Every step needs an even more detailed explanation and here @LearnApppInventor we are constantly working to make it easy for people to learn about App Inventor 2. So; do subscribe to us in order to become an App Inventor Pro.