Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Great reason NOT to use iBuildApp

The past couple of years I’ve dabbled with several different mobile app building websites. These have included sites which support the creation of web apps as well as true “native apps” which can be added to the Apple App Store as well as the Android Marketplace. Today I received an email that the app I created with iBuildApp exceeded 10 downloads, and that the actual app would be disabled / stop functioning unless I start ponying up some cash for a monthly subscription. Good grief. I never was able to successfully add the app to the the Apple App Store, so those downloads all had to come from the Android Marketplace / Google Play Store. This seems like an overwhelmingly great reason to NOT ever build another sandbox / practice app with iBuildApp. A limit of 10 total/cumulative downloads and app users for a free account is simply not reasonable.

Great reason NOT to use iBuildApp by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License  by  Wesley Fryer 
iBuildApp - 31 Downloads by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License  by  Wesley Fryer 
iBuildApp - Upgrade Payment Plan by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License  by  Wesley Fryer 

I pay $100 per month now for my VPS (virtual private server) with Site5 which runs over 30 different WordPress sites for me and for various other organizations I help. I have no desire to add a monthly payment for a mobile app service which limits the number of app users I can have. I recognize that companies need to monetize, but this doesn’t strike me as a viable payment offer. I’m hopeful in the months ahead, and perhaps over the summer, I’ll be able to make time to revisit this arena of native mobile app creation via web-based tools. Jared Robinson (@mrrobbo) is the best “yoda” of mobile app creation that I know personally. I first tried Buzztouch based on his recommendation. For more links and information about mobile app development (the little I do know and have tried) see my wiki curriculum, “Mobile Apps & Curriculum for Your Class.”

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2 responses to “Great reason NOT to use iBuildApp”

  1. Diane Woodard Avatar
    Diane Woodard

    This is great to know Wes! I have my students using this app building for their design thinking project. We also are using appypie. Do you have a recommendation for the best web-based app builder for education?

  2. Wesley Fryer Avatar

    I don’t have a current favorite, Diane, but it’s been at least 8 months since I’ve been playing with these tools… http://appshed.com is one of the most recent I played with and liked. I really want to get a news / information sharing app “out there” on both the iOS and Android stores/marketplaces… if you find one you like a lot please let me know.