Almost ten years ago, I had an idea for an app. I created an independent study in high school where I was going to develop software that would help people discover new music in a more efficient manner.
After watching many YouTube tutorials and trying to learn some programming languages, it quickly became clear that coding an app was out of the scope of this independent study. Eventually, I created a blog that simulated some functionality of the app, and that was good enough.
But now, in 2020, it’s feasible to turn around an app in just a few weeks, or even one day using something called Glide.
With just a Google Sheet, and an internet connection, you can transform rows upon rows of data into an easily clickable iPhone app. There’s no need to download anything, or learn to code.
You can go from this:
to this:
without much hassle.
All you need to do is create a Google Sheet, input your data, and then connect your sheet to your Glide account. You will then have to format your app and choose how the various elements will be displayed. While there are plenty of guides and documentation, the best thing to do is just to play around with it.
Build a sample app with the roster for your favorite sports team. Build another one with your favorite restaurants in town. Keep building, tweaking and looking for more opportunities to create. Once you start, you will see possibilities everywhere.