The global app market is worth over $200 billion and expected to grow by nearly 14% every year. It’s an industry that has seen rapid growth in a relatively short space of time, and one that covers a wide range of categories, brands, and offerings.
You can use mobile apps to track your steps, book a vacation, or do a spot of online shopping. There is no shortage of options, and with so much money to be made, every company, developer, and visionary is seeking their share.
One of the great things about these amazing little programs is that you can create them yourself with minimal technical knowledge and no coding skills.
AppMachine is an app builder made for beginners and experts alike. You can use it to build your own app for Android and iOS with very little time and money. In this guide, we’ll show you how, covering topics such as:
- How to create Android apps without coding
- The benefits of Android app development without coding
- How to make an Android app for free
- And more…
So, whether you’re looking for a side project to generate passive income, launching an app for your brand, or planning something bigger, keep reading!
How Does AppMachine Work?#
Before we address the what's and why's, let’s take a look at how to create an Android app without coding.
AppMachine is an easy-to-use mobile app builder that delivers exceptional applications for Android, iOS, and web. Anyone can build native mobile apps using AppMachine—you don’t need to have any coding skills, technical know-how, or even a business. And thanks to our incredibly affordable and flexible pricing structure, you don’t need a big budget either.
TheAppMachine app maker offers features such as:
- Drag-and-Drop Editor: With AppMachine, you won’t find yourself staring at endless screens filled with unrecognizable code and complicated menus. We use a drag-and-drop editor so you can just choose what you like, drag it over, and drop it into place. It’s like virtual Lego, and just like the famous plastic building blocks, anyone can do it!
- Easy Template: Not sure what you want your app to look like? Need a little push in the right direction? We have a selection of prebuilt templates that you can choose and customize as needed.
- Inform Your Customers: Add contact details, product information, FAQs, and other data to your Android app. AppMachine integrates seamlessly with data sources like Google Sheets, making it easy to move over large quantities of data.
- Monetize: Whether you’re selling your app, offering in-app purchases, or using it to showcase and sell eCommerce items, AppMachine has the solution. All of these things are possible.
- Google Play Store: When you have finished your Android app, you can publish it straight to the Google Play store and either sell it or offer it for free. You can also publish the same app as an iOS app to the Apple App Store.
- Push Notifications:Email is old-school. Most customers ignore brand emails, so your discounts and announcements often fall on deaf ears. With AppMachine, you can create an Android app that sends push notifications direct to the user’s device, alerting them to new products, discounts, and more.
- Add Personal Touches:Just because AppMachine uses templates doesn’t mean you’re forced to use the same layout and style as everyone else. There are countless customization options to add your own personal touch, including options for colors, styles, logos, and more.
Check out our guide on how to build an app to learn more about creating your very own mobile app.
What are the Objectives of Your App?#
What is your reason for wanting to build an Android app? What are your goals?
Profit is ultimately every developer’s goal, but that shouldn’t be your only focus. The app industry might be worth over $200 billion, but it’s also supplied by millions of developers, and they all want the same thing.
You can’t simply publish an app and then wait for the money to roll in. Nothing in life is ever that simple.
Your first step, therefore, is to ask yourself a few questions, address some key topics, and gain clarity and direction.
Here are a few reasons why you might decide to build an Android app:
Keep up With the Competition#
If you’re developing an app for your business or brand, or even to advertise your services as a professional, it’s important to keep an eye on the competition.
Do your main competitors have an android app? If so, how many people have downloaded it and how many reviews does it have?
You can find this info in the Google Play Store, and that should be your first port of call when checking what your competitors are up to.
User reviews can give you some valuable insights into how those apps function, whether they have any issues that aren’t being addressed, and if your competitors are doing anything right.
Imagine, for instance, that your competitor’s reviews are roughly split down the middle—half great, half terrible. The great reviews praise the app for its speed and simplicity while the terrible reviews complain about the lack of eCommerce functionality and infrequent updates.
After reading those reviews, you’ll know to create an Android app that is simple, streamlined, eCommerce-ready, and updated on a regular basis.
If you want to build an app to reach your customers in a better way, or if you are creating an app as part of a personal project, you should still check similar apps. See what mistakes they are making and what they’re doing right. Your research will also tell you if people are actually interested in your chosen category.
Collect Customer Data#
You can harvest a lot of data from an Android app. It will tell you who is downloading the app, how they are using it, where they are from, and what kind of issues they have. If you’re building a brand, that info is essential for increasing conversion rates and revenue.
If you’re selling a lifestyle or productivity app, you can use it to tweak your offering and give customers more of what they want.
Boost Your Brand#
There are over 111 billion annual app downloads in the Google Play Store. It’s used by millions of people all over the world and serves as a fantastic platform to showcase your app.
You still need to advertise the app and ensure that consumers are happy and reviews are positive, but if you can get the formula right, it’s a fantastic platform.
Monetization#
At the top of this guide, we noted that the app sector was worth over $200 billion. Needless to say, mobile apps can generate a lot of money. Obviously, not all apps are profitable, but many of them have generated some big returns for their brands and developers, and some apps have become businesses in themselves.
TikTok is a prime example of this, as it’s thought to generate over $12 billion a year. Apps like Roblox and Candy Crush also earn hundreds of millions every year, and these are just a handful of the world’s biggest apps.
Obviously, a lot of hard work and marketing goes into creating these apps, and you can’t just throw together a multi-billion dollar creation in a few minutes (although Flappy Bird was famously created very quickly and went on to generate 50+ million downloads). But there are still many ways to profit from creating an Android app:
- Sell it through the Google Play Store
- Offer it for free and charge extra for additional services
- Provide subscriptions and paid access
- Use it to promote an agency or professional services
- Create an eCommerce app and sell products and services
With AppMachine, you can publish your creation directly to the Google Play Store and very quickly make it available for sale or free download. From there, it’s up to you how to choose to monetize and market it.
Creating an Android App#
Not sure what type of app you want to create? The Google Play Store offers a wide selection of categories. Some of the most popular categories include:
- Lifestyle Apps: If you have ever downloaded a step counter, vacation app, or an app to browse for new homes, you have tapped into the lifestyle category.
- Entertainment Apps: The purpose of these applications is to keep consumers busy and entertained. They include apps for watching videos, reading books, and listening to podcasts.
- Gaming Apps: This is the biggest category of apps and includes trivia games, puzzle games, and other games that can be enjoyed alone or with friends.
- Community Apps: Also known as social media apps, these apps connect users to a community and include offerings from major social networks like Facebook.
- Commerce Apps: Websites often create apps to showcase their products and allow consumers to purchase using their phones and tablets.
- Educational Apps: These applications are designed to educate and inform. They include courses, guides, and language-learning apps.
- Productivity Apps: Often built for a single purpose, productivity apps are designed to make life easier for business owners, professionals, and entrepreneurs. They include calculators and document creators/editors.
- Business Apps:Businesses can use apps to help automate their business processes, make information available for their employees and stay on touch with customers.
What's Next?#
The Google Play Store is vast. There are multiple apps and developers out there and they’re all competing for the same consumers.
The good news is that the average Android user typically downloads dozens of apps a year and some users go through hundreds of them. The bad news is that if you don’t promote your app, no one will see it.
There are a few things you can do to get your Android app in front of more users:
Create a Good App#
The best marketing in the world can’t make up for a terrible product. You can convince people to download poorly made apps, but if they don’t like them, they won’t remain loyal, they won’t leave positive reviews, and they won’t recommend them.
Your first step, therefore, is to make sure the app is as good as it can be. Research, plan, create, and test. Only launch when it’s ready and return regularly to make updates and fix bugs.
Encourage Good Reviews#
You can’t force your customers to leave positive reviews, but if the app is good enough and they have some encouragement, they will be more inclined to leave positive comments. That’s all you need, as most prospective users check reviews before they download a new app.
If there are complaints and bug reports, fix them. If there are angry customers, appease them.
Use Social Media Marketing#
Sites like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great sources of new users for your app. You can post screenshots and videos to give them a taste of the app and tell them all about the benefits.
These networks also provide detailed analytics, so you can see who watches your video, clicks your link, and downloads your app. If you know who your customers are, you can target them directly.
For instance, Facebook includes options to target users based on gender, age, location, preferences, and more. It means you’ll only pay when you’re targeting people who are actually interested in your app.
Use Social Media influencers#
Another way to utilize social media advertising is to pay influencers to promote the product for you. Influencers are the superstars of the digital age. They can have huge fan bases that follow everything they do and buy everything they advertise. If they see their favorite influencers using your app, they will be motivated to use it as well.
Engage with Your Community#
Not only should you respond to bad reviews and fix the issues they highlight, but you should also engage with customers on social media and other channels.
If they ask questions about your app, answer them. If they say something praiseworthy, thank them. Customers expect brands to engage and they are more likely to remain loyal when they do.
Use Affiliate Marketing#
Affiliate marketing is a great way to increase app downloads.
It works by giving influencers, webmasters, and content websites unique links that they can use to advertise your app. When someone clicks on that link, their activity is tracked. If they download the app and/or make a purchase, the creators pay the advertisers a commission.
It’s a win-win, and a great way to create passive advertising.
You can either advertise for affiliates/ambassadors directly or use affiliate programs. The former provides a more personalized approach but you’ll need to find the affiliates yourself. The latter already has a large bank of affiliates that will see your brand, check your rates, and consider signing up.
To ensure that the app is advertised responsibly (no spam, irrelevant advertising, or false accounts), be sure to vet all of your affiliates and keep track of how they are using your links.
Write Articles and Create Videos#
Customers need to know what your app can do and how it can benefit them. They should also be able to find your app when they are searching for related content, whether that means seeing a blog article when they search for a keyword or watching a video when they see related videos.
So, write some blog posts and host them on your own site, as well as platforms like Medium. At the same time, create short videos that show screens from your app and highlight its features, before hosting these videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
How can AppMachine Help?#
Now that you know how to create an Android app without coding, the only thing left to do is sign up for an AppMachine account and start planning your app. There are many different types of apps you can build with AppMachine, from lifestyle and internal business apps to ones that showcase your products or services.
Select one of our templates, make some changes, add some personal touches, and you’re good to go. With our drag-and-drop creator and personalization options, it really couldn’t be easier to create your app.
Check out our product page to learn how to get started.
