Hi there,

I’m interested in creating an app , wondered if anyone here had done it?

I want to make some thing fairly simple (I think!) based on the popular Couch to 5k running apps that help people train to run, which would trigger particular audio tracks after a particular length of time.

Is it worth getting a professional in, or something that it possible to make yourself?

Any advice/experiences welcome.

Cheers

Joe

You might want to provide a bit more info – for fun or business? do you have any coding experience and if so, what? Android/iOS/both?

Hi Nemesis-

No coding experience – it is for business. It would be a kind of pre- amble to some of the theatre events that we will be running later this year (http://www.burnthecurtain.co.uk) allowing potential audience members to listen to content before the show itself.

Cheers

In that case, get a professional in – nothing worse than trying to sell something that’s a bit crap because you’re not really sure what you’re doing. Not to mention that in terms of your time, it’ll take a lot of it (overhead) to do.

Nemesis is probably right although if you or anyone else in your business has any kind of programming experience at all it really has never been easier these days.

Since Xmas I have been playing about with the latest Xcode and Apple’s new-ish language Swift; it really is very intuitive and Xcode does most of the hard work for you plus there are loads of tutorials to hold your hand through making a simple app. In fact the hardest thing nowadays is coming up with a decent idea (which it sounds like you’ve done already!).

I’m sure there are similar development tools for Android or cross platform development although the best thing about the Apple tools is that they’re all free!

It can be done but it does take time to learn and make the mistakes and then fix them. From your link this seems to be to accompany a play in which case it really does need to work not to completely destroy the experience – the audience all looking at their phones when the music has got out of sync or a text has arrived and stopped the music or whatever else would be a nightmare.

Hi,

I’m a software engineering student – i’m not offering to make it, but message me and i could point you in the right direction of some very capable people, the price could be rather more realistic and it could act as portfolio for them?

mail in profile.

Cheers both- yes, I think I probably need to talk to a pro.

App would definitely be part of pre publicity, not the performance itself- no way I would have audiences looking at their phones!

Slight piggy back on this thread.

I want to create a Field Archery App, but have the plan but no coding skills.

What would be the best way to start. Any clicl and create progs out there ?

Like anything you can design & build an app yourself if you have the time to learn. An eye for design and the type of brain that likes to code help too. If you want to do it yourself you need to pick the platform you want to target (iOS/Android) or look at on of the cross platform frameworks and see which tools you need to learn to get started.

As well as the building of the app you also need to think about the design – how it looks and how it works. The market is getting more and more crowded and design/user experience is something that can set you apart from the competition. If the app is for an existing business then the user experience is even more important – you don’t want to pee off clients/customers will a slightly crappy app.

I work at an agency that designs and builds mobile apps and games so I’m going to be slightly bias 😀 But I see websites in the same way – if you are doing it for fun then have a go, if its for business then pay a pro to do it.

I’d talk to a few agencies or freelancers to get an idea of costs etc. You’ll soon get a feel for the market, and who you’d like to work with. Cost wise you’ll find a spread from kids in bedrooms, freelancers (though in our experience it tends to be freelances that are either designers OR developers – not both), small agencies then on to the big players – which I guess means from the low thousands upwards depending on where you want/need to be in that list.

Look local, but don’t rule out working with people else where in the country. We have clients all over the place (uk and international) and some of the best agencies and freelancers I know have clients all over the country (and world).

Good luck which ever way you go!