Mobile Roadie is a popular online app maker for Android, iOS, and mobile web apps. App builders like this one are an interesting choice for those who don’t know how to develop Android apps coding Java. Read on to find out if Mobile Roadie can deliver!
When you sign up for the free trial, you are immediately asked to provide a title, icon name and type for your app. Like all the other app creators I have used, you don’t have to provide credit card info when signing up. However, the free trial only lasts 14 days. During this period, you’ll have access to all of the features of the app creation content management system (CMS), but you won’t be able to submit or launch your app.
The free version lets you create a mobile website but if you want an Android or Mobile app, you will need the $149 / month core account or a $799/month pro account.
Making an app with Mobile Roadie
After signing up, you are directed to a page with an introductory video and a choice to either go through a setup wizard or go directly to the CMS. The one-page interface gives slick and very easy experience to users to create an app quickly.
The setup wizard recommends sections based on the “app type” you chose earlier. In my case the app type was “blog” and this yielded exactly zero recommendations!
The next screen is most important as of now you’ll be building design There there are options for adding brand/company logo, adding content and picking a theme. Clicking one of these changes the main area of the page and in the case of App Vitals, it displays fields for inputting publisher information etc.
There you could personalized the selected theme, choose different layouts for presenting icons, links and tabs. They have good number of choices to go with and make an Android app quickly.
Choosing the Add Content option, an array of modules appears which you can add to your app. You could add links to your services and social profiles such blog RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr etc.
App preview /submission and advanced features
Here you are offered a choice to download the “MoRo Connect” app for previewing your app and upgrading to the paid version. Android and iOS versions of the connect app are offered so naturally I installed the Android version via Google Play. More on this interesting feature later…
With this app you can view your Mobile Roadie creation on your mobile device as you build it… a very nice feature that I hadn’t encountered yet in other app makers.
On to the main page of the CMS: this page is quite busy with all kinds of options and information. There are some useful videos to get you started with the CMS, submitting and maintaining your app.
If you have a paid account then you can add feature packs for more design options, premium content sections, commerce, analytics, extra integration options and categories/search. Each option costs and additional $99 / month.
App submission to Google Play (or the iTunes App Store) is handled by the Mobile Roadie Team. You won’t get a .apk file to play with or to publish under your own account. Unfortunately, providing iOS developer credentials in the App Vitals section is mandatory… as I don’t have an iOS developer account and do not intend on getting one anytime soon, completing the checklist was not possible!
Conclusion
Mobile Roadie is clearly aimed at businesses. Like Andromo, the free version doesn’t allow you to publish an Android app. If you don’t intend to upgrade to a subscription paid subscription , then Mobile Roadie isn’t for you. You can however make a mobile website for free but that is a separate product and thus beyond the scope of this review.
Feature wise, Mobile Roadie has some nice touches but so do many of its competitors. The MoRo app, which allows you to preview the app on your device as you build it, certainly stands out.
