6 Different Ways To Make Android Apps (Easy to Hard)

Want to make android apps? But don't know how to create one? Then, for your information, there are many different methods to make android apps. From drag & drop, builders to different programming languages can be used to develop android apps. Read this post of 6 ways to make android apps and decide the one that is right for you.

Just before we jump into the ways to develop an android app, we'll need to know some things about apps.

What does an Android App mean?

Android apps are software applications that run on the Android platform. Because the Android platform is built for mobile devices, a typical Android app is designed for a smartphone or a tablet PC running on the Android OS.

Android apps can be written using Kotlin, Java, and C++ languages. The Android SDK tools compile your code along with any data and resource files into an APK, an Android package, which is an archive file with a .apk suffix. One APK file contains all the contents of an Android app and is the file that Android-powered devices use to install the app.

Types of Mobile Apps (including Android apps)

Native app

All apps targeted toward a particular mobile platform are known as native apps. Therefore, an app intended for Apple device does not run in Android devices. As a result, most businesses develop apps for multiple platforms.

The main purpose of creating such apps is to ensure the best performance for a specific mobile operating system.

Hybrid app

The concept of the hybrid app is a mix of native and web-based apps. Apps developed using Apache Cordova, Xamarin, React Native, Sencha Touch, and other similar technologies fall into this category.

These are made to support web and native technologies across multiple platforms. Moreover, these apps are easier and faster to develop. It involves the use of a single code base that works in multiple mobile operating systems.

Despite such advantages, hybrid apps exhibit lower performance. Often, apps fail to bear the same look-and-feel in different mobile operating systems.

Web-based app

A web-based app is coded in HTML5, CSS or JavaScript. Internet access is required for the proper behavior and user-experience of this group of apps.

These apps may capture minimum memory space in user devices compared to native and hybrid apps. Since all the personal databases are saved on the Internet servers, users can fetch their desired data from any device through the Internet.

___________________

Six Different Methods To Make Android Apps

1) Hire a Freelancer or Company (Very Easy)

The easiest method to make an Android App is to hire a developer, who should be an expert in this field. This is best for businesses and will make your app look professional. 

And, Moreover, you don't need to waste your time in learning programming. 

But, of course, this is a paid way. You can hire a developer/app making company from websites like Fiverr and more. 

2) Convert your existing website into an app (Very Easy)

This will be best for you if you already have a website established. But keep in mind to check your site if it is mobile-friendly by this test. This will be good for the users of your app. 

You can convert a website to an app using different paid and free tools like AppMySite, Convertify, Web2Application, and more. But most of the free tools will put a watermark on your app or only allow you to preview the app

3) Drag and Drop App Builders (Easy)

This might be easy for you if you have a creative mind and is a quite fast way to make android apps. You just need to drag and drop different blocks for developing apps. There are different tools for this like Appy Pie, Thunkable, and more. But their free versions aren't good for a commercial app

4) Using Sketchware (Intermediate)

You may not have heard of Sketchware. It is an integrated development environment (IDE) inspired by the language Scratch, which allows you to develop, compile, and build an Android application directly on your smartphone, without any help from a PC.

With block programming, it is very easy to make applications if you know the basics. And the internet is filled with Sketchware tutorials. You can know more here.

5) Using Android Studio (Hard)

Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Google's Android OS, built on JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA software and designed specifically for Android development. It is available for download on Windows, macOS and Linux based operating systems or as a subscription-based service in 2020.

It can also be used to make AR and VR applications for android. There's also a lot of tutorials available for learning android studio.

6) Using other IDEs

There are many other alternatives to Android studio-like Visual Studio (By Microsoft), Qt creator, Apache Cordova, Cevelop, etc. for making apps if you don't want to use Android Studio for your app development. Qt Creator and Visual studio also support cross-platform development.

Conclusion

So that's all in this post, the six ways to make android apps. In my opinion, using Sketchware is best for beginners as it's free and of course you can use it on your smartphone.

But if you are serious in app development, I'll recommend using Android Studio or Visual Studio.

So, Which is your choice? Comment below and let me know. Also, if the post helps be sure to share as it will help me a lot.

[Bonus : If you're looking to get started quickly (and have a little Java background), a class like Introduction to Mobile App Development using Android could be a good course of action. It takes just 6 weeks with 3 to 5 hours of coursework per week, and covers the basic skills you'll need to be an Android developer ]