Can low-code create phone apps?

(This article is under development)

With the growing importance of remote work, our ubiquitous smartphones have become an essential tool to stay in touch with colleagues and customers. The same is happening for our business applications.

A good business application helps you to stay on top of what is happening in your organisation and enables you to take effective action whenever needed. Many people want to have that ability also when they are on the move. This is not so much a matter of being available 24/7 for their work, but more that it allows them to pick up their child from school at 4 o’clock in the afternoon without having to be afraid that they miss something important.

Having access to applications while being on the move is becoming more and more of a requirement. Not only for customers, who you want to act when they have an urge, but also for staff who want to work efficiently. Enabling these groups to act on their smartphone is the obvious solution.

To demonstrate the power and reliability of low-code environments, Lowcode4all has chosen for VINYL. VINYL is mostly known as a productive Low-Code Application Platform (LCAP) for enterprise-grade applications. Since enterprise-grade applications and smartphone apps seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum, I am sometimes asked whether low-code platforms can also build apps for smartphones.

It is a legitimate question because, although functionality and data-security requirements are the same, apps for smartphones have very different requirements for the design of screens and reports.

The smaller screen and the other ways to interact with a phone app (no mouse or trackpad but touchscreen and swipes) have different demands for the user interface than applications that run on large monitors and that can present everything at a glance.

Being able to build phone apps was therefore one of the criteria that we used during the selection of our preferred design environment. And in this, VINYL excelled in two areas:

1. Every developed application, screen and report is automatically available for different devices and screen sizes, whether they are large monitors or small smartphones.
2. The low-code, object-driven, approach of VINYL includes an extensive library of HTML-widgets that can be fully customized so that your smartphone applications can fully benefit from features in a mobile environment including, integration with third-party apps.

Did you know that VINYL is built in itself?
That means not only that everything that you see in the VINYL application development environment, you can also do in your own applications, but it also means that VINYL can be accessed from your mobile phone.
Obviously, for a system as expansive as VINYL, you benefit from having a large monitor where you can see everything at a glance, but if you wish, you can maintain your VINYL apps from your mobile phone.

A low-code phone app

Offering access via mobile phone also becomes important, if not essential, for your customer support. Have a look at one of the phone apps that we have built. In this case, the phone app completely replaced the desktop application that they were aiming for.

In 2024, the Adventures APP will be launched. The Adventures APP is an application for Android and iPhones with which teenagers can learn scouting skills and that supports scouting leaders with the preparation of their weekly gatherings.

The Adventures APP has been built in VINYL and at this moment they are recording the hundreds of adventures that together form the training program that is released at the end of 2023.

Below you see a preview of the application. This provides one example of how low-code can be used to build apps for smartphones while keeping all the security and functionality in place for enterprise environments.

Phone apps are a reason to choose low-code

Offering convenience is key to the retention and satisfaction of both customers and employees. At Lowcode4all we believe that demands emerge locally and that meeting the ever-increasing demands of your customers and your staff enables you to thrive and survive in the upcoming decade where service will be key.

In many cases, the demand to offer mobile services might be the best reason to start with low-code development now.

Offering the most convenient service usually means that people can take action at the moment that they have a demand. And nowadays those moments often occur when people are on their mobile phone. In 2023, more than 50% of internet traffic took place on mobile devices (source: broadband search). Marketing specialists constantly talk about ‘funnels’ with which they describe the journey that a customer has to go through from experiencing a wish to placing the order.

But that funnel towards the order is only half the story. Imagine the benefits when customers can get their information, place their orders, or book their appointment, on their mobile phone, directly connected to your system.

To achieve this, you have 2 requirements:

1. an enterprise-grade environment so that you are sure that your and their data is safe and that the transaction processing is reliable.
2. an environment that can quickly be adapted to changing business needs, such as a change in opening times, changes in stock, special holidays or events.

We chose VINYL because VINYL offers you both: enterprise-grade security and the no-code/low-code speed of application development.

It might very well be that the demand and the opportunities of mobile convenience are the best reason to make your first steps into low-code application development. IT solutions make the market more competitive. To get ahead, and even thrive, we advise every company to benefit from low-code now.

Services that you can offer on mobile environments

In general, all functionality that you can offer on a desktop environment, you can also make available for mobile devices. Here are a few functions that are specifically useful to offer customers and employees on their mobile phones:

Examples of mobile convenience for customers:

• getting up-to-date product information
• buying products (for pickup, delivery or shipment)
• making appointments (doctors, hairdressers)
• reservations and check-ins
• inquiring about their customer status
• paying bills
• account management
• access to chatboxes that are connected to your database (reducing call centre times)
• last minute bookings (travel insurance)
• processing insurance claims
• incident reporting
• managing return shipments

Examples of mobile convenience for staff:

• access to their work schedule
• access to customer requests
• updating status information
• approving return shipments
• real-time incident support
• asking for leave (holidays, health)

Did you know that customers do not need to download an app to have access to your mobile functionality?
You can present a link, or button, on any internet page, Facebook or Instagram story, LinkedIn post or Tiktok description, to have the above-mentioned functions appear in a phone screen format without needing your own APP.