How much does it cost to make a basic app?

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qwerty7

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#116087 17-Apr-2013 22:04

The app would be made for ios and android. Say for example I wanted to make an app that shows a restaurant menu. No other functions. Just basically an app that opens and displays a picture. Can I do this myself with the help of online tools? How much would it roughly cost in total?

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Snowflake

#801252 18-Apr-2013 00:12

technically, it would take about 10 minutes to build an app for windows phone that just launched a picture. not sure it would pass app store certification though - if that is all it does, its not really an app. a "responsive web design" page that resizes to fit a mobile or tablet and works across all devices would be easier and cheaper.

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johnr

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#801254 18-Apr-2013 00:15

As above that is not an App

hairy1

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#801276 18-Apr-2013 06:53

Have a go with something like buzztouch.com and see how far you get. It sounds like it is not a huge app so you might be able to do it yourself for free.

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timmmay

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#801279 18-Apr-2013 07:24

Sounds like you need to either use an image viewer or get an app that lets you create menus.

tchart

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#801292 18-Apr-2013 08:11

qwerty7: The app would be made for ios and android. Say for example I wanted to make an app that shows a restaurant menu. No other functions. Just basically an app that opens and displays a picture. Can I do this myself with the help of online tools? How much would it roughly cost in total?

My 2c, I recently attended an iOS development workshop. One of the samples/tutorials we had was a list of cars which showed a picture when clicked. Very simple project and only a handful of lines of code. Deploying to the App Store would be the biggest issue.

On Android it may be a bit harder but would be easier to deploy on devices (since you aren't dependent on the App Store).

itxtme

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#801296 18-Apr-2013 08:23

Why an image??

For data based app development if you have HTML knowledge and javascript/jquery knowledge you can spit out an app like this inside an hour. Using Jquerymobile as a framework, it comes prebuilt with heaps of UI interfaces, there is no need to store as an image when you can make it interactive without much effort. From here you then output the site to phone gap which turns it into a stand alone app, with support for Android, IOS and Blackberry (may be more now).

If this was too much effort you could always use an app builder like Codiqa which has simple UI drag and drop functions, and is based on phonegap.

What you have to remember is that if you do not connect your app to a data feed ie. make it static without connection to the net, to get any changes to your menu your users would have to re-download the updated app, doing that frequently is VERY annoying. Would this project not be more suitable as a responsive website??

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LesF

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#820669 16-May-2013 15:59

I agree with the suggestion of jQuery Mobile. Your user interface can be written in HTML5 and will appear similar to an application written in the O/S that it is viewed on.
Do you want the app to run offline as an installed app or can it run in a web browser, e.g. over a local wifi service?

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Les