Mobile Apps are the hot thing at the moment. Every man and his dog has an iOS App and/or Android App and more and more people are looking to make them.
The trouble is that creating a mobile App either requires an ability to code an App or the money to pay someone to do it for you. Of course there have been online tools to help you easily create an App, but they tend to either spit out generic and boring Apps or cost far too much money.
Until now that is…
Earlier this year at the end of March, Red Foundry released Fusion, a platform for creating mobile Apps, both for iOS and Android. Fusion is a 100% free platform, all you need to do is sign up. If you’re planning on releasing an Android App then you need nothing else, but if you are planning on publishing your App to the App Store then you will need an Apple iOS developer account. But to start with Fusion, you need nothing.
Building Your App
Fusion’s interface main interface revolves around the idea of views. You App has a number of views and each view is like a separate web page. You build your App by creating a number of views and linking them together.
Within each view you will have a number of widgets, which are the building blocks of Fusion. If you want to add text to your App, then you add the text widget. If you want to add a video to your App, then you add the video widget. Easy. Fusion’s real strength though, is elements.
Elements are easy to use, combinations of widgets that allow you to easily add advanced functionality to your App. An example is the image gallery widget, which allows you to quickly and easily add in a beautiful gallery of images.
Testing Your App
Red Foundry have not only built an amazing online App creation tool, they have also built a testing tool to accompany it. The tool is called VIZ and you can install it on your device to test your App as you create it. With a shake of your device, each change that you make to your App will be on your device. You will always know the exact look and function of your App at all times.
Summary
Fusion is a powerful App creation tool, and as such has quite a steep learning curve. But with the help of Red Foundry’s video tutorials, I’m sure you’ll be able to learn how to use it. Below is an example of one of the videos they have created to advertise Fusion.
[tentblogger-youtube laAdzoCrfQo]
I have come to know Fusion quite well over the past few weeks as I created my first App using Fusion. Check out some of the screen shots on the App Store to see what Fusion is capable of.
As I stated earlier, Fusion is a powerful and free online App creation tool that allows anyone to create an iPhone App. And if you’re looking to get into the App developing world, then checking out Fusion will be a great first step!
[Image via Red Foundry]
Chandos says
I’m curious as to how free “free” is. Do they brand the app? Do they own the rights? Are there ads? Or is it that once you’re ready to publish you’re hit with the bill 🙂
Calum Henderson says
It free all the way. They do not brand he app. They do not own the rights. They don’t put ads in you App (though you can if you choose, you gain all revenue from ads you put in), there is no bill to pay once you hit publish.
The App I made using Fusion is live on the App Store (see link in post) and I haven’t paid them a cent. It’s a pretty good deal!