Last week we explored the virtues of Andromo, a platform that lets us develop Android mobile apps without writing a single line of code. However, we’ve been told that MIT offers a very similar alternative in the form of MIT App Inventor, which has the advantages of beginner-friendly tutorials for making your first app without trouble, and of being completely free.
Nobody doubts that the demand exists. A huge number of users out there want to pour their ideas into a mobile app, but lack of programming knowledge leaves them with their hands tied. The concept of visual programming seeks to eliminate (or at least limit) the complexity of code, and from a certain point of view, it’s possible to talk about a “democratization” of app development. Of course, a programmer can give dozens of reasons justifying learning code, but that’s the key: Learn. If we’re going to assimilate new ideas and make mistakes, why not do it in the most friendly way possible?
Create your first Android app with MIT App Inventor
So we come to MIT App Inventor. Its original launch dates back to December 2010, and since then it has allowed the creation of more than 34 million apps, from small personal tests to advanced projects for electronics, along with all kinds of games and multimedia elements. The first step is to set up an Android smartphone or tablet to test our app there. App Inventor’s team recommends installing its official app, so the linking process is much easier, using QR codes.
After that, we enter the editor, and to do so we need compatible credentials (a Google account is more than enough). The editor is divided into five main modules: the Palette, which contains all the components to add to our app; the Viewer, which shows us how the app will look once finished; the Components window, which presents the complete list; the Media section to load images and sounds into our app; and finally the Properties panel, where we can modify visual characteristics of the app and its modules.
If you haven’t used anything similar before, the recommendation is to choose one of the tutorials and build the app it suggests step by step. That way, the interface will become much more familiar. The assignment of functions is inspired by the Scratch language (also from MIT), so it all comes down to dragging small blocks to fit them together. Now, the interface has a partial Spanish translation, but that’s not the case with the tutorials. Even so, the visual guides are solid, and I don’t think you’ll have any trouble. What are you waiting for? Enter MIT App Inventor and create your first app!
Note from the editor: We extend our thanks to reader Dario Martin for recommending App Inventor.
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