Electronics manufacturers often create mobile apps to control electronic devices. These are typically WiFi or Bluetooth-connected devices controlled by a smartphone. Various software frameworks and tools support native or cross-platform mobile app development for iOS and Android. Some popular frameworks include React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, Swiftic, Ionic, Apache Cordova, Jquery Mobile, and Native Scripts.
However, these software frameworks require mobile apps to be coded from scratch. This takes time, knowledge and a certain level of expertise. An alternative to coding is to use a visual mobile app that is part of an IoT platform. Users just need to figure out which app is ideal for their device and how different elements work and can interact with electronics.
These visual tools are quite primitive, but they are sufficient for creating applications for IoT, home automation, and WiFi or Bluetooth-connected electronics projects that can be controlled via a smartphone. They allow programmers to build the user interface and define the application's functionality.
In this article, we will explore some popular visual mobile app development tools for electronics manufacturers.
Top Visual Mobile App Development Tools
1. MIT App Inventor
2. RAD Studio
3. Cayenne pepper
4. Blink
5. Things Board
6. Appy Pie
7. Zoho Creator
8. Build Fire
9. Adalo
MIT App Inventor is a visual mobile application development tool initially developed by Google and now maintained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is a block-based tool for creating fully functional apps for iOS and Android. The tool is free and open source, available under dual licensing of Apache License 2.0 and Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 3.0. The software source code is included under the Apache License 2.0.
Building a mobile app using MIT App Inventor is extremely easy and intuitive. A beginner can understand how it works in 30 minutes. The App Inventor Companion must be downloaded to test the application. The app builder is available as a web-based platform, but there are also computer-based emulators available for Mac OS, Windows, and Linux that can test the mobile app without a cell phone or tablet.
With MIT App Inventor, you can create applications that rely on data from wireless sensors to:
- For home automation or IoT projects
- To control Internet-enabled devices and electronic circuits
- Who navigate maps
- To build mobile games
- Apply artificial intelligence to textual data, images and audio.
More than 22 million apps are currently in use, built with MIT App Inventor. More than 400 thousand users access the platform for mobile app development every month.
Embarcedero's RAD Studio is a popular software framework for building cross-platform applications for mobile and desktop devices. Users can build an app that runs on iOS, Android, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.
This tool provides a low-code development environment through its VCL and FireMonkey wizards. Wizards enable responsive user interfaces for mobile and desktop devices through visual tools with multi-screen support. The ARM M1 and M2 Apple Silicon simulators can test mobile applications developed in RAD. Note that this is a visual app builder, but it still requires knowledge of C++ or Delphi to build a mobile app, but it is much easier than coding entirely from scratch.
The platform supports 32 Android APIs, AndroidX libraries, building APIs, and multiple classes.dex files. For iOS and MacOS, there is a 64-bit ARM compiler. The tool supports VCL apps for Windows 11 with WinRT APIs and HighDPI features. For Linux, the platform facilitates server GUIs and FireMonkey. There is also support for more than 20 databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL server and MongoDB. The framework allows the use of REST services and AWS components through HTTPS and REST client libraries.
There is a single code base for iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows and Linux. This is a visual environment that allows users to access source code and create native mobile apps for Android and iOS. RAD Studio is ideal for controlling most DIY IoT and electronic devices. A mobile application of almost any complexity with a cloud service or platform can be easily built in RAD Studio. This is an excellent platform for cutting-edge IoT applications involving databases and web services through mobile applications.
Cayenne by myDevices claims to be the world's first drag-and-drop IoT project builder. The platform enables complete IoT solutions designed for any device or connection. It easily controls sensors and binary devices through any microcontroller or single-board computer.
Cayenne is a web-based platform with customizable dashboard, triggers, alerts, asset tracking, MQTT API, LoRaWAN, remote monitoring, data visualization, visual coding and IoT cloud. It features an IoT-ready program that readily connects microcontrollers, gateways, and sensors.
Registered users can create a custom dashboard with drag-and-drop widgets to view, control, and manage connected devices. The dashboard can be accessed through web or mobile applications. Depending on the hardware features and functions, each device, sensor, or gateway can have multiple widgets on the dashboard.
Blink is an IoT platform with iOS and Android apps to control Arduino, ESP, Raspberry Pi and other microcontrollers. It is a fully integrated suite of IoT software, including Blynk.App, Blynk.Cloud, Blynk.360 and Blynk.Edgent. The platform can control and manage connected devices at any scale.
Users must download the Blynk app for iOS or Android to control electronic circuits or connected devices through the mobile app. The app can be used to view sensor data and send/receive commands to connected devices and binary devices. Register an account on the Blynk platform and start building a custom dashboard with drag and drop widgets.
The Blynk app connects to a Blynk server to access connected devices over the Internet. The server can be Blynk Cloud or a Blynk server operating locally. It is possible to access thousands of devices through one application and one server. A Blynk library can set up a connection via WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth or cellular networks to communicate with hardware platforms such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP, etc.
Blynk is a low-code platform, but it requires writing some code for functions. It is not ideal for beginners and is designed for building sophisticated or complex IoT projects. Consider Cayenne for no-code mobile app development with a simpler user interface design.
Framework of Things is a free and open-source IoT platform that enables connected device management, data collection, and visualization for IoT solutions. The platform allows the construction of real-time IoT dashboards for remote device control and data display. The dashboard features 30+ drag-and-drop widgets to control and manage devices. Database support includes many SQL, NoSQL, and hybrid options.
Thingsboard allows users to create complex rule chains to process data communicated through connected devices. Data communication over the Internet is encrypted for HTTPS and MQTT protocols. Support is also available for device authentication and credential management. The server-side application uses RPC commands to manage and control devices.
Some of the key features of this platform include telemetry data collection, data visualization, multi-tenancy, horizontal scaling, IoT rules engine, device management, asset management, alarm management, security, and encryption. Thingsboard supports microservices for clustered devices, enabling rapid scalability.
Pie Appy is a no-code AI program for building cross-platform mobile apps. It has drag-and-drop elements, pre-built templates, and customizable color themes for web and mobile apps. The user interface for Android, iOS or a cross-platform mobile app can be built by dragging and dropping the graphic elements of your choice. Thanks to the codeless AI workflow, functions can be added by creating triggers for actions. Appy Pie is ideal for beginners.
Zoho Creator is a low-code, visual mobile app development environment. The platform offers several intuitive and attractive drag-and-drop elements to build any web or mobile application. Users can create a graphical user interface using wizards and automate processes visually. You can also add AI to your app functions visually, without writing any code.
Users can generate their own data models and visualize their structures and relationships. Data can be viewed from different sources using cross-functional analytics. Zoho Creator is a general-purpose visual mobile app builder. It can also be used to create professional applications for IoT and connected devices with minimal coding.
Build Fire is a visual mobile app development tool for simple mobile apps for iOS and Android. It offers multiple drag-and-drop features and pre-built templates, allowing for quick UI design. Templates can be customized and previewed in real time.
Adalo is a no-code platform for building mobile apps for iOS and Android. It has 25+ drag and drop components and pre-built templates. The platform supports automatic database configuration. Users can build an application with database spreadsheets.
Conclusion
One of the most common ways to control and manage IoT-connected devices is through a mobile app. Mobile app development can be challenging for electronics manufacturers as it requires time-consuming coding and development.
Fortunately, many IoT platforms now offer visual mobile app development that allows users to create cross-platform mobile apps for connected devices without coding or learning complex software programs.
IoT platforms like MIT App Inventor, Blynk, Cayenne or Things-Board are ideal solutions for building applications that depend on a cloud server or the Internet. For those projects that require connection via a mobile device or desktop, RAD Studio is an excellent tool for building a cross-platform application.
It's worth trying general-purpose visual mobile app builders like Appy Pie, BuildFire, Zoho Creator, and Adalo to create apps that don't require a WiFi connection or cloud access. These mobile app development tools can provide simple drag and drop functionality for user projects, making the complicated simple.
