7 Reasons Why a Mobile App Builder Can Harm Your Project

App constructor or app builder without coding is a service that creates mobile applications. Using such a program you don't need to have any technical or programming skills. The service does everything by itself, all you need to do is to indicate what features and designs you would like to see in your product. There are three main types of applications that mobile app builders and app constructors create.

The thing we are trying to explain in this article is that you will never get a fully-functioning, smooth and solid application with an app builder or app constructor. Yes, you can create an app with their help. Yes, it will have some set of functionality and will actually work. But, there is a long list of issues which you would get if you choose this service instead of a hybrid app. Lets consider them one by one.

Web apps based on HTML5 technology may attract you because they are cheap, fast to create and they will work on any mobile platform. Yet, here are the drawbacks:

Can't be published in stores. Remember that your app (and as we have already clarified is not actually a mobile app) will not be accepted in App Store and Google Play. Of course, you may find some stores and publish your application there but you need to understand that the number of visitors to such stores is minor compared to the traditional ones. And if you wanted to promote app via App Store or Google Play, you ll not be able to do it with this type of application.

Difficult to integrate a payment gateway. It is one more minus of these apps. The thing is that it is more difficult to integrate payment or any other third party service into such an app than into a native one.

Smartphone utilities don't work in such apps. An HTML5 app doesnt have full access to the hardware platform, unlike native applications. It means that in your app there wont be camera features, GPS, NFC, gyroscope and other utilities enabled that could make your application fun and more interesting.

No off-line mode. As you might have guessed, a browser page will not work without an Internet connection.

Lots of companies are attracted to the idea of paying less and getting an app which can work on different platforms and be developed quickly. But, think twice before agreeing on such an option. Here's why:

Design. iOS and Android platforms have their design guidelines. Of course, they are different and of course, an app with the design for Android platform won't meet the requirements of iOS Human Interaction Guidelines. And, of course, the features designed specifically for iOS platform won't work correctly on Android.

Utilities. Just like the previous type of automatically constructed applications, Hybrid apps also have very limited access to a smartphone utilities. And even if you got access to them, the performance speed would be just awful.

Now, you may start thinking that the native app is the best option (which is really true). However, a native app developed by a person and native app constructed by an app constructor or an online app builder are two dramatically different things. Here is why:

Functionality. Imagine that you prepare a salad. You have a cucumber, a tomato and some cheese. Nothing more. You can take only two ingredients or even one but not four because there is no ingredient number four, only three of them. The same here. You are limited with a short list of features which you can include into your application. If you have an innovative idea (or at least not a trivial one) you can not implement it. The application will be absolutely templated.

Code quality. It actually looks like a salad. You add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. In an online mobile app maker, you choose features but not the way they will interact with each other. You will not get any documentation to your code and will not be able to change it.

The constructors and online app builders offer to build you a mobile app for business within a few minutes and for a reasonable price. But they don't tell you what will happen with such an app later. Before you make a final decision study the results of our research:

Anyway, there are some cases when the usage of online app constructors or app builders is warranted. 

Firstly, if you need a proof of concept. You are a start up and need to show something to your stakeholders and investors. In this case, you can use a mobile app creator to create a mobile app prototype, something that can validate your idea. But, bear in mind that if your idea is really innovative, you will not find needed features in an app builder. The same with design, you can only choose from a set of options.

Secondly, if you want to know how an app will look. As we have already said, these constructors apps are only good for prototypes. If you need to test your idea and see what you want to add and what functionality to reduce, you can try this way.

Thirdly, if your app is very plain. You need to create a mobile app (maybe even a cross platform one) which will work across various platforms and doesn't require lots of features. It can be a blog or news applications with limited functionality.

You may have seen lots of ads on the Internet that assure you that an app constructor or app builder is a great opportunity to create a fully-functioning, great looking and cheap mobile application very quickly. But they don't tell you the whole truth. The app created with the help of such services can never be compared with a man-made app. What you will really get is a set of features which aren't connected properly with each other, with moderate design and no support or maintenance. If your task is to create a seamlessly working mobile application with great design and unique features, write us, we are full of ideas to share with you!

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