This next article will cover the simple steps you need to follow in order to turn your idea into a fully working Android app.

If you haven't decided on an idea yet, no need to worry, just give it a little more thought and perhaps an idea will come to you during this article. Try making an app about your favourite animal, sport, or beverage. Simply going through the process will be helpful.

Whether you have an idea or not, this article will provide you with an overview of Andromo's app making process.

Explore Andromo’s Activity Types

If you haven’t already, you’ll first want to explore Andromo’s available Activity types. This will help you better understand the types of media/content you can include in your app. You can keep that information in mind when gathering, or creating content, however don’t let it restrict you. As you gain experience you may find alternate ways to present the content that you weren’t aware of.

Gather or Create your Content

Once you’ve decided on an idea for an app, the next step will be to gather the content you want to include, whether it’s publicly available content that you’ll be linking to, or your own creations. Below are some examples of common items that may apply to your idea:

• Photos – your own, public photos in an RSS/Atom media feed, on Flickr, Instagram.
• YouTube Videos – your own, public videos on the topic.
• Website Links – your own, a collection of interesting sites surrounding the topic.
• News feeds (RSS/Atom) – your own, or public feeds with the latest news on the topic.
• Facebook page – your own, or popular pages discussing the topic.
• Twitter – your own, or others of interest.
• Audio – your own audio creations, or audio files you can legally distribute or stream.
• Podcasts – your own, or others that are publicly available.
• Online Radio – your own, or other stations of interest.
• Map Locations – your place of business, or locations related to your topic.
• Custom Text – textual information you have specific knowledge about.
• PDF Documents - your own, or content you can legally distribute.

If you’re using content that is not your own, make sure you don’t violate any copyrights by claiming the work as your own. Online content will usually contain information about its usage, so be respectful. When in doubt, ask the owner of the content, or err on the side of caution. Violating copyrights is a sure way to get your account banned in app stores such as Google Play.

You should also be mindful of the subject matter of your content since some app stores and ad networks prohibit using certain types of content. For your first app, we suggest you play it safe until you’re familiar with all of the regulations on the topic.

Style your App

When it comes to styling your app, don’t be afraid to express your creative side. The goal is to create an interface that is both visually appealing, and easy to read. Changing your app’s appearance in Andromo is easy to do, but getting it “just right” may take some experimentation, so don’t get hung up on getting things perfect when starting your app.

For your first app, you may want to stick with the default style settings. As you gain experience, you can experiment with different looks to make your app more unique. The following sections discuss some styling decisions you’ll want to make before releasing your app to the public.

Choose a Dashboard Type
Your app’s dashboard is the first thing the user will see after launching your app, so you’ll want to make a good impression by having it look nice. Andromo has a variety of Dashboard types to choose from, with a number of available customizations. If you’re unsure which type you prefer, the “List” type is a safe bet for most apps. Switching the dashboard type is easy, so feel free to experiment in the future. These settings can be found on your project’s Dashboard tab.

Choose a Theme
When it comes to making your app unique, simple changes such as choosing a color theme can go a long way when designing your app. Some areas to consider customizing are the action bar style/theme/colors, text colors and background colors. If you have a logo, perhaps you could tailor your colors around your brand’s color scheme. This decision may be more apparent after deciding on your other graphics such as your app icon. To start, feel free to just use the defaults. These style settings can be found on your project’s Styles tab.

Create your Icons
There are several icons you’ll want to specify before releasing your app, the most important being your App Icon. The app icon will be shown on the device’s Home or All Apps screen after it’s installed, and in the action bar while your app is running. You can set the app icon on your project’s App Info tab.

Your goal should be to choose an icon that is easy to identify and is a representation of your brand or content. Since you’ll need it in the future for store listings such as Google Play, you’ll want to make sure you have an image available that is at least 512x512 in size to work with. (As a general rule, it's better to have an icon that is too large and scale it down, than it is to have an icon that is too small and scale it up.) The possibilities are endless if you have some graphical abilities, but if you don’t, no need to worry. There are many sites available that offer royalty free images that you can use for your icons such as http://openclipart.org or http://www.iconfinder.com.

The other set of icons you’ll want to consider changing before release are the activity icons. These are the icons on your app’s dashboard (the first screen) that represent each of the activities you’ll add. Each activity’s icon can be set on its properties page. Andromo automatically includes default icons for each activity type, so if they fit the style you’re going for, feel free to use them.

Turn your Content into Activities

Activities are the main component of your app and where you’ll be adding all of the content that you’ve gathered for your idea. Each activity you add will be automatically added as an item on the dashboard. This is how your users will access each area. As described earlier, Andromo has a variety of Activity types  to choose from, tailored to different types of content. While Andromo’s activities were created with a particular idea in mind, don’t be afraid to think of creative ways to use them beyond what we’ve suggested.

There’s no right or wrong answer as to how many activities your app should have, but as a guideline, you’ll want to shoot for a minimum of 4, but ideally at least 6. You may also want to stay away from large numbers, since it may become difficult for users to navigate. Quality is often better than quantity. Keep in mind that updating your app is easy, so adding new content in future updates is always a nice surprise for your audience. So don’t feel you need to add all the content you’ve gathered.

You can build your app as many times as you want, so to get your feet wet, just add one or two activities to your project’s Activities tab so you can build your app to see what it looks like. If you don’t have any activity content yet, try adding a “Facebook” activity using ‘andromorocks’ as the Facebook Page.

Build and Test

Your app doesn’t need to be finished in order to build and test. It’s exciting to see what your app looks like, so don’t be afraid to pause and take a look at your work along the way. In general you’ll be building numerous times after adding content, fixing issues, or tweaking the appearance of your app. Building your app is as simple as a button click, initiated from the button on the “Build” tab of your project.

Once the build process is completed on Andromo’s servers, you’ll receive an email containing a download link for your compiled app file. The next step is to install your app to see how it looks, and to make sure it functions the way you want. The easiest way to test your app is on an Android device, so if you have one, follow the instructions in the article How to install your App onto a device. If you don’t have a device, don’t worry, you can still test your app, but it involves some further steps as described in the article Testing your application without a mobile device.

Monetizing your App

If your app is nearing completion and you think it’s something you’d like to release to the public, you’ll want to start thinking about how you’d like to monetize it. If it’s more of a promotional tool for your business or brand, this form of revenue may not apply to you. The most popular way to monetize free apps is to include ads. Andromo contains a variety of advertising formats and providers, the most popular being banner and interstitial ads from Google’s AdMob. You can find all of Andromo’s monetization options on the Monetization tab  of your project. All of these options require a registration step, so you’ll probably want to initiate the process while you finish your app.

The second way to monetize your app is by selling it through an app store such Google Play. If you feel people would pay for the content you have to offer, you may want to consider publishing it that way, instead of distributing a free version with ads. It’s also common to release two versions of an app, a free version with ads containing a limited amount of content/features, and a paid version that contains more content/features, and no advertising. If you decide to go this route, you’ll need to create two separate Andromo projects for the free and paid versions.

 What's Next?

The next article of this series will explain how to release your finished app to the public. Read on!

Seeing an app that you made, running on an Android device for the first time, is always an exciting moment! The next step is just as exciting: releasing your app to the public, and watching the download numbers climb.

If making your app available to millions of users sounds hopelessly mysterious, fear not — this article will cover everything you need to know in order to prepare your app for release and launch it out into the world.

Releasing an app

Let's take a look at what you need to do in order to release your newly created Android app. There are a few topics that you will need to think about during this phase of the app creation process and this article will walk you through them and take away any of the worries you might have. Here are the topics that will be discussed in this article:

Let’s take a look at what you need to do in order to release your newly created Android app. Each of these topics will be discussed in this article:

1. Monetize your app: Decide if you are going to monetize your app, and if so how.
2. Build and test: Build a final version of your app and test it to make sure that everything works.
3. Choose an app store: Choose the app store(s) where you will upload your app.
4. Prepare your store listing: Get all of the icons, screenshots, and description text you need to publish your app to the app store(s) that you have chosen.
5. Promote your app: Promote your app after release to gain more users and make more money.
6. Plan your update schedule: Decide when you will release the next version of your app.

A good companion to this article is the Android Developers Launch Checklist. It's aimed at developers who need to program their apps from scratch, so there are some things that won't apply to Andromo users because they are already taken care of for you -- however there is still a wealth of information in it for anyone looking to release an Android app.

Monetizing Your App

Now that you are ready to release your app you need to decide whether you want to monetize your app, and if so, how you want to do that. Most Andromo App Maker users who want to monetize their apps will do so using one or more of the available ad networks.

Monetizing with Ads

Adding an advertising network to your app is very simple if you follow these general steps for each ad network you wish to support:

1. Sign up: Create a developer account on the ad network you wish to monetize with.
2. Get the required id(s): Each ad unit you enable within Andromo needs one or more unique ids that will identify your app with the ad network. The ad network will give this to you.
3. Enable the ad unit and supply your id: Now you need to enable the ad unit within your project on Andromo.com and enter the id the ad network gave you.
4. Rebuild your app: Rebuild your app and you should start seeing the ads show up.

Note: Do not click on your ads! If you click on your own ads there is a very high chance you will get banned from that ad network and lose all your ad revenue. Be careful and do not risk your future earning potential for all of your apps. It isn't worth it.

More information on monetizing your app via ads can be found in the Monetization Options  section of our knowledge base.

Selling Your App

While the steps to adding an ad unit are quite generic, the steps required when selling your app through an app store are not. What is needed in order to sell an app within a certain app store, is a store-specific issue. As a result you will have to look into the help section of each app store you choose to sell in for more information. More about app stores can be found in the Choose an app store section.

Building and Testing

When you are ready to release it's a good idea to build the final version of your app and test it to make sure that everything works the way you want it to. Here is a helpful checklist you can use when testing your final build:

App Launcher

1. Does you app icon look good? Is it the icon you want?
2. Is the name of your app spelled correctly?

Dashboard

1. Does your dashboard look good in both portrait and landscape?
2. Are the activity titles and activity descriptions correct and spelled properly?
3. Does each activity icon look good?

Activities

1. Does each activity work?
2. Are all the settings within the app correct? Photo titles, RSS thumbnails, HTML, etc.

About Dialog

1. Is the version of your app correct?
2. Is the information text correct?

Miscellaneous

1. If you have enabled ads, are they displaying? (If you just created your ad network account it may take as long as a day for ads to start being served to your app.)
2. Does your style look good across all of your app's activities?
3. Does your action bar look good? App Icon, color scheme, etc.

You should also look at the Android Developer App Quality help topic to ensure that your app is at a quality level that will help it to succeed.

If everything looks good it's time to take your app public!

 Choose an app store

Choosing an app store might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. Here is a short list of app stores that we recommend you look at:

Google Play

The default app store for most developers around the world is Google Play. This is the app store run by Google and should probably be the first app store you target. In order to create a Google Play Developer account you must pay a one-time fee of $25 USD. If money or geographical restrictions are not an issue, this should be the first app store you upload your app to. We have a knowledge base article that details How to put your app in Google Play.

If you are going to target Google Play you should also watch the Google Developers Live video, Root Access: How your startup can succeed in the Play Store for some tips on succeeding in the Google Play app store.

Amazon Appstore

The Amazon Appstore usually costs $99.00USD per year to sign up, but right now the fee is being waived, so sign up for free account and upload your app. More information is available in our knowledge base article Making Kindle Fire Apps with Andromo. Amazon's Kindle Fire is one of the best selling Android tablet lines to date, so don't ignore this app store.

Samsung Apps

Samsung is the most popular Android device maker in the world, accounting for over 31% of all smartphones sold. They also happen to have their their own app store that's available to all of those devices: Samsung Apps. It's free to set up a developer account and free to upload your app. While it might not be the first app store you upload your apps to, it should be on your list of app stores to include.

Regional App Stores

In many countries around the world (e.g. South Korea), regional or carrier branded app stores are very important. That means that if your app targets or becomes popular in a specific country, it makes sense to research which app stores are popular within that country and be sure to upload your app to the most popular.

Other App Stores

Here are a few other app stores that you might want to look at:

• Soc.io
• Getjar
• Opera App Store

A larger list of app stores can be found on the One Platform Foundation.

See What Works

There are a lot of app stores out there, and most of them will let you submit your app for free. Some aren't worth the time it takes to create an account, while others will give you more downloads than Google Play. What works for one app might not work for another; sometimes all that's needed to get a few more downloads is a little bit of experimentation. Find some app stores and test the results.

Prepare your app store listing

Before you upload your app to any of the available app stores you will need to collect a few things in order to prepare your store listing. While these steps are not the same across all app stores, in general most of the following will be needed:

A Large App Icon

You will probably need a 512x512 version of your app icon, and in some app stores a smaller version as well.

Screenshots

At a minimum you will need four screenshots of your app. You can read more about taking screenshots of your app in our knowledge-base article How to take Screenshots of an Android application. Most modern phones can do this by simply pressing and holding the power and volume-down buttons down for a few seconds. Make sure that your screenshots are accurate and highlight the best features in your app.

Google Play recommends that you have three types of screenshots: phone, 7 inch tablet, and 10 inch tablet.

A description of your app

Each app store will require you to describe your app to potential users. You app description should explain what your app does, and contain related keywords so that search queries will find you app. Be wary of lying or doing any "keyword stuffing" as both have the possibility of getting your app banned from that particular app store. Google Play is especially sensitive to this.

Also pay special attention to the first sentence in your description. This is often the only part potential users will see on their mobile phone, so make it count.

A tagline from your app

Come up with a short tagline for your app. Something less than 80 characters that will hook potential users.

Promotional Images

Some app stores permit additional promotional images that will help your app store listing attract more customers. You might need an image editor to create these. While it may seem like a hassle to create additional graphics, the potential benefits outweigh the small amount of effort needed to create them.

 Promote your app

After you publish your app to the stores of your choice it is important to take some time to promote your app. The more people hear about your app the more likely they are to download your app, so get out there and let them know about it. Promoting your app doesn't have to cost you anything, it can be done very easily using social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc), blogs, and any other online space where potential users of your app might congregate. Don't spam people, instead let them know that you have a very cool app on a subject that they are interested in.

Another way to direct potential users to your app is through paid advertising. If you want to spend the money you can actually advertise your app using the very same ad networks that you enabled in your app! In the future when you have more than one app available you can use house ads to cross promote between your apps, a very clever strategy that many successful Andromo app developers employ.

Update Schedule

Another key to a successful app whose install numbers continue to climb is to follow a release schedule. Your release schedule should mainly be about two things:

1. Fixing bugs
2. Adding new content/features

If there is a bug in your app, or if Andromo has fixed a bug, you should release an update as soon as possible. If you come across new content that you would like to add, or if Andromo has added a new feature that you would like to take advantage of, you should release an update according to your schedule.

Both types of updates to your app will bring your app back to the user’s attention and hopefully get them using your app again.

You should aim to update your app around once a month. It will help to keep your existing users happy and help you acquire new ones.

 In Conclusion

Once you've released your app to the public and uploaded it to the app stores of your choice, it's time to have some fun over the next few days as you watch the ad impressions and install counts grow. You should feel proud when you start to see people using your app! But don't be discouraged if your app doesn't explode in popularity overnight. Some apps need time to get noticed by the right users. And, unfortunately, there will be some apps that just won't get noticed, in spite of all your efforts, for all kinds of reasons that are beyond your control...but there will be others that will. So if your app's journey to success is slower than you wanted, don't despair; take what you've learned from the process and build another app. Even in a crowded app store, there is still room for new successful apps.

That's the beauty of Andromo App Maker. The quick turnaround from idea to app as shown in this series means that you can keep creating and releasing different ideas without spending half a year to code it yourself in Java. You can throw as many apps as you want into the app stores, until you find an idea that sticks.

But in order to create more than one app using Andromo you will need a subscription to Andromo.

Reason to subscribe #1: Although you can build one app using Andromo's free trial, you cannot monetize that app with ads; instead, Andromo's own ads will be shown. This means you are missing out on the potential ad revenue from your app. When you have an Andromo subscription you get 100% of the ad time and therefore 100% of the ad revenue.

Reason to subscribe #2: You also need a subscription in order to turn advertising off and make ad-free apps. Which means that if you are planning on selling your app for money you will want to get a subscription, or your end users will still see Andromo’s ad units, which is generally frowned upon for paid apps.

The Solution: Subscribe to Andromo.com, get 100% of the ad revenue, gain the ability to turn off ads, and most importantly gain the ability to make multiple Android apps!

Use your hobbies

Do you have any hobbies or interests? Things that you enjoy make great subjects for an app. If you’re going to put time and effort into something, why not make it something you’re already interested in?

Try to think of ways that you can make an app that would be useful to other people with the same interests. What would you have liked to know when you first got started? Would other people be interested in seeing pictures and videos of what you do?

Make an app about your hobby for people who want to learn about it.

Share your knowledge and expertise

Are you an expert in your field? Is there something you are really good at? Do your friends and family value your advice? Turn your accumulated wisdom into a service-oriented app. This could be in the form of written instructions, step-by-step images, how-to videos -- anything that people would find helpful.

Examples: game walkthroughs, car buying tips, how-to videos

What is your passion?

Is there something that really excites you? A subject that you never get tired of? Try to think of ways to share that passion in the form of an app.

Examples: favorite recipes, movie reviews, reading lists

Do some good

Is there a cause or charity that could use your support? Do you feel like you have a mission in life? Try to think of ways that you could contribute, and benefit others by making an app.

Take a look at trending apps

Check out what apps are being spotlighted on Google Play. Use the Top Charts and New Releases  to give you insight into what kinds of apps are popular right now.

Think about the different categories

Spend some time thinking about the app categories in Google Play. For each category, try to imagine different apps that you could make for it. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the category? What’s the first thing that you can think of that wouldn’t fit inside the category?

Browse existing apps

Look for apps that are popular with users but that you could improve upon functionally or aesthetically. The goal isn’t to copy other apps, but to gain inspiration. What do you like or dislike about the apps you see? What would you do differently? Think about how you could reach the same users with a different kind of app.

Seeing other apps might spark an idea for an app of your own

Search the markets

Pick a subject you’re interested in, and search for it in Google Play. Are there any apps that surprise you? Are there any apps that stand out? Why?

Now do the same thing for another subject. Do the apps stand out in the same way? Are there any gaps in the results -- apps you expected to see, that aren’t there?

Repeat the search in other app markets. Are there any differences? Are there any apps that are popular in one market that seem to be missing from the others?

Try to find popular subjects that are under-represented

 Provide a valuable service

It helps to think of your app as providing a service to the user. Try to think of ways an app could solve a problem or address a pain the user is having.

Share your expert research skills

Do you have a knack for finding good information? Make an app that provides curated content about a difficult-to-research subject. For example, the best collection of hard-to-find tutorials, or answers to questions that are difficult to describe and tricky to search for.

 Don’t worry too much about what is technically possible

Try not to put the brakes on too much while you’re brainstorming ideas. Not every idea is possible without programming, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t something you can do with that idea using Andromo. For example, you might not be able to make a game, but you could make an app for the people who would like that game -- a collection of walkthroughs, or a series of articles aimed at game designers that explores what makes the game fun.

You will develop a sense for what is possible as you start to make apps. For now, don’t worry too much about what is technically possible. Even the craziest, most impossible ideas are okay -- one of them might spark another idea that is possible. The important thing is to give yourself room to explore as many ideas as you can.

 What’s popular right now?

Pay attention to current events and take advantage of the quick turnaround you can achieve with Andromo  to put out very topical apps. This could be anything newsworthy, from advice on how to prepare for an impending hurricane, to an app that pokes fun at the latest celebrity gaffe. A slip of the tongue by someone famous could spell opportunity for a quick, successful app.

Take advantage of how quickly you can build an app with Andromo

Anticipate popularity

Try to predict something that will become popular very soon. For example, you could make an app with information about a cool product about to be released. Being the first on the scene of a cool new trend is a great way to get your app noticed quickly.

Timing is important

Some apps become successful just by being launched at the right time -- for example, right before a related product is announced that everyone starts searching for, or a video about your subject goes viral. Although you can’t always predict this kind of luck, it’s worth considering such coincidences when you are coming up with app ideas. If you can think of a lucky event that might occur, you might be able to prepare an app for it, just in case the opportunity presents itself.

Think about your audience

One way to generate app ideas is to focus on a specific demographic (e.g. males aged 20-29). What kinds of things do they like? What kind of app would they be interested in? Research your subject in Google Play to get a feeling for the possible size of the audience.

Target an underground niche

Look for app niches that might not be served because they are too small to justify the cost of development -- if you didn't have access to a tool like Andromo.

Go local

Consider making an app for a specific location, such as the city or country where you live. Take advantage of your familiarity with the subject to make an app that fits the community’s needs, or to inject the apps with local flavor -- something only a person from there would know. Making an app geographically specific can help its ranking when users perform location-based searches.

Be specific

Focusing on a narrower subject might seem like it will limit your app’s appeal, but it might also make your app easier to find when users perform a very specific search. For example, an app about a specific car model instead of about cars in general. By being specific, your app is less likely to get lost in a long list of apps about the same subject.

Think about the ad networks (make advertising easier)

If you're planning to monetize your app using ads, one approach that can help you generate some ideas is to think about what topics, age groups, or products the advertisers would like to target, and then create an app around that.

You might even want to do some research into what types of ads are shown by the network you plan to use, and make apps that will relate well to their ads. In other words, try to make an app that will be easy for the ad network to match up with advertisers.

Try building your app backwards

Another tip for coming up with ideas is to think backwards from the tool to the idea. Go through the list of Andromo activities and think about how you could use them in an app. Try to think of "creative" ways to use each activity. For example, you could use a Photo activity to show a slideshow of information, or an Audio Player to create a pronunciation guide. Challenge yourself to make an app based on each of the activity types.

Be mindful of the terms of service

Be mindful of where you will release your app, and their terms of service (TOS). For instance, Google Play is the most popular app store, and it does not allow nudity or copyright infringement (and neither does Andromo). Make sure that your idea is safe.

Think globally

Remember you have a worldwide audience. Differences in language and culture can have dramatic effects on how potential users view your apps. Try not to limit yourself to a single region when evaluating your ideas for apps.

 Try lots of ideas

Andromo makes it easy and inexpensive to try out different app ideas, so don’t limit yourself to just one kind of app. Try different approaches and see what works the best. If your first idea doesn't work, maybe your tenth idea will.

What’s Next?

The next article in this series will explain how to translate your ideas into a working Android app using Andromo. Read on!

Andromo.com is a website that allows you to take an idea and transform it into an Android app in three easy steps:

1. Create a project: Each project you create within your Andromo account represents one app. To create an Android app using Andromo, you need to create a project.
2. Add activities to your project: Activities are what give your app functionality. In order for your app to do anything you need to add activities to it.
3. Build your Project: Building your project will generate your Android app. When you are done, or when you want to test, you need to build your project via the Build tab. This will generate an APK file which you can install on your Android device.

You can also watch this short video which will walk you through the process:
 

In More Detail

Projects

As mentioned above, a project within Andromo represents an Android app. If you want to create an Android app using Andromo you need to create a project first.

To create a project, log into your Andromo account and visit your projects page

There you will see a large green button that you can click to create a new project:

After you click this button you will be prompted to name your project. The name of your project will be what your end user sees on their Android device. Don't be too concerned with your project name at first -- you can always change it later.

Activities

Activities are what give your Android app functionality. Without any activities your Android app won't do anything, so the first thing that you want to do after creating your project is go to the Activities tab.

To add an activity, just click the Add an Activity button. There are 19 different activity types that you can use in your app, from the About Activity to the YouTube Activity. These activities are the main tools that you have at your disposal when creating your app. You can add as few or as many activities to your app as you want, but you'll probably want at least four.

See the Activities Knowledge Base section for more information on the different activity types available to you and how you can make use of them.

Building

Building is the process of transforming your Andromo project into an Android APK. An Android APK is a single file that represents your Android app. This is the file that your end user will install onto their Android device and then execute in order to use your app. When you are satisfied with your app, or when you want to test what you have created so far, you need to visit the build tab to generate your Android APK.

Building your project is very easy, simply click the big green Build My App button on the Build tab, and Andromo will start building your app.

Once the build process has completed you will be emailed a link to your Android APK file. A download link will also be made available in the Action button next to that project at Andromo.com.

While your app is building, the project list will look like this:

If you refresh your browser after the app is done building, you can download the APK using the Action button:

Once you have the link to your Android APK you can install your app on your Android device and publish your app to Google Play.

Helpful Links

Here are some links that will help you make the most out of Andromo:

• Andromo Pricing
• Andromo Support
• Andromo Knowledge Base
• Andromo Forums
• Andromo Blog
• Andromo YouTube Channel