How does one create an app?
How does one create an app?
I have no background or knowledge on this. I would like to make an app for performance engine building that has various pages with various formulas, unit conversions, tool lists, etc. What program do I use to make an app? I've seen Surge, Bevy, and Godot but those seem to be for games.
Edit: Thank you everyone for your helpful responses. Unfortunately I can only see the responses left on my post, not replys to top level responses. I think this is an instance problem and I'm trying to find out because I would love to see everyone's comments. All is working now
Android Studio is the primary toolkit for developing native android apps. If you have no background in programming, there are some more visual tools like Budibase (open source) or Softr (closed source), but you are likely to run into difficulty getting them to apply logic the way you'd like.
If you're a tinkerer, then honestly I'd look into learning more about Android Studio and Kotlin, the language most used these days for app development on Android.
To add onto this, a good starting point is to clone the repo of an app you like from GitHub, Codeberg, GitLab, etc, then work on open issues.
Permanently Deleted
As far as I'm aware, Samsung or Amazon are the only other real app "marketplaces". Most developers using Fdroid otherwise rely on donations or patreon for active development, depending on the nature of the app
Android Studio is proprietary
Imo that's fine. It's also still the best tool for learning since it's the most widely supported one, and contains the greatest amount of documentation for working with android development. It costs nothing to use, and doesn't lock you into any kind of ecosystem you can't later migrate from.
Visual does sound nice but I'd rather go with something well used and stable. Is Android studio and Kotlin "open source"? I know what open source is but don't know how to make it that way or not. I've got a lot of learning to do clearly so I appreciate your help!
The answers about getting started with Kotlin and Compose are good, but I'd like to offer for your consideration that your app may actually be more appropriate to build as a website. Food for thought.
It's a good point about the website and I've thought about that as well. I do want to go the app route however because I want instant offline access
Worth considering a PWA too.
https://developer.android.com/codelabs/basic-android-kotlin-compose-first-app
and if you've never written a line of code in your life:
Thank you, those look like great resources! Android Studio has a flatpak too which is great
Godot can be used for any app, not just games. (Same goes for the other engines, I assume.) Though I can't say if you would have an easier time picking it up, rather than the traditional Java or Kotlin route.
Good to know. Maybe I'll tinker around with Kotlin I hear so much about as well as Godot and see what comes to me more intuitively
Thank you everyone for your helpful responses. Unfortunately I can only see the responses left on my post, not replys to top level responses.
Check your account language settings. Make sure undetermined and English are both selected.
That worked! Thank you so much! I was getting pretty disheartened about Lemmy but now it's all good
Oh good! Glad I could help.
Would say to you to use flutter, with VsCodium 👍
Try expo.dev
Looks like a good option. Thank you
Android Studio is probably the right way, but it's a steep learning curve.
I've successfully built apps using B4A: https://www.b4x.com/ and it's a hell of a lot easier. Good documentation.