Learning a new language and development environment is the minimum that is required of you if you want to write your first mobile application. It will take at least a couple of weeks to sketch out a basic todo list for Android or iOS without copying the example from the book. But you can not master Objective-C or Java and still quickly develop applications for smartphones if you use technologies such as PhoneGap.

If you have carefully studied the innovations that await us in Windows 8, you may have noticed that it will be possible to develop applications in HTML5 under it. The idea is actually not new - technologies that implement the same approach for mobile platforms, are developing by leaps and bounds. One of these frameworks, which allows you to develop applications for smartphones using a bunch of familiar HTML, JavaScript and CSS!, is PhoneGap. An application written with its help is suitable for all popular platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, WebOS, Symbian and Bada. You will not need to learn the specifics of programming for each platform (for example, Objective-C in the case of iOS), or deal with various APIs and development environments. All you need to create a cross-platform mobile application is knowledge of HTML5 and a special PhoneGap API. In this case, the output will not be a stupid HTML page “framed” in the application interface, no! The framework API allows you to use almost all phone capabilities that are used when developing using native tools: access to the accelerometer, compass, camera (video recording and photography), contact list, file system, notification system (standard notifications on the phone), storage, etc. Finally, such an application can painlessly access any cross-domain address. You can recreate native controls using frameworks like jQuery Mobile or Sencha, and the final program will look like it was written in a native language (or almost so) on a mobile phone. It is best to illustrate the above in practice, that is, write an application, so I suggest you start practicing right away. Keep track of the time - it will take hardly more than half an hour to do everything.

What will we create

Let’s take iOS as the target platform - yes, yes, the money is in the AppStore, and for now it’s best to monetize your developments there :). But let me make it clear right away: the same thing, without changes, can be done, say, for Android. I thought for a long time about which example to consider, since I didn’t want to write another tool to keep track of the to-do list. So I decided to create an application called “Georemembrance”, a navigation program whose purpose can be described in one phrase: “Let me know when I’m here again.” The AppStore has many utilities that allow you to “remember” the place where the user parked the car. It's almost the same thing, just a little simpler. You can point to a point on a city map, set a certain radius for it, and program a message. The next time you fall within the circle with the specified radius, the application will notify you and the point will be deleted. We will proceed according to this plan: first we will create a simple web application, test it in the browser, and then transfer it to the iOS platform using PhoneGap. It is very important to prototype and test the bulk of the code in a browser on a computer, since debugging an application on a phone is much more difficult. As a framework we will use the jQuery JS framework with jQuery Mobile (jquerymobile.com), and as a map engine - Google Maps v3. The application will consist of two pages: a map and a list of points.

• A marker of your current position is placed on the map. By clicking on the map, a point is created to which a message is attached (like “car nearby”). A point can be deleted by clicking on it. To move a person's marker on the map, a geonavigation API is used.
• The page with the list of points must have additional button“Delete all points”, and next to each point there is a button “Delete this point”. If you click on an element in the list, the corresponding point will be displayed on the map. We will save the user settings and the list of points in localStorage.

UI frameworks

jQuery Mobile is, of course, not the only framework for creating mobile interface. The PhoneGap website has a huge list of libraries and frameworks that you can use (phonegap.com/tools): Sencha Touch, Impact, Dojo Mobile, Zepto.js, etc.

Application framework

I’ll immediately explain why we will use jQuery Mobile. This JS library provides us with ready-made mobile application interface elements (as close as possible to native ones) for a variety of platforms. After all, we need the output to be a mobile application, and not a page from the browser! So let's download latest version JQuery Mobile (jquerymobile.com/download) and transfer it to working folder The first application files we need are:

• images/ (move here all the images from the folder of the same name in the jq-mobile archive);
• index.css;
• index.html;
• index.js;
• jquery.js;
• jquery.mobile.min.css;
• jquery.mobile.min.js.

It is necessary to make the resources mostly local so that the user does not spend mobile internet. Now we create the page framework in the index.html file. The code below describes top part pages with a map, the inscription “Geographic memorial” and the “Points” button.

Map page

The page attribute data-dom-cache="true" is necessary to ensure that it is not unloaded from memory. The Points button uses data-transition="pop" so that the Points List page opens with a pop-in effect. Read more about how they work jQuery pages Mobile, you can read it in a good manual (bit.ly/vtXX3M). By analogy, we create a page with a list of points:

Point list page

For the “Map” button, we will also write data-transition=”pop”, but add the data-direction=”reverse” attribute so that the “Map” page opens with the “Fade” effect. We will write the same attributes in the point template. That's it, our frame is ready.

Creating an application

Now we need to display the map, for which we will use the standard Google Maps API, which is used by millions of different sites:

Var latLng = new gm.LatLng(this.options.lat, this.options.lng); this.map = new gm.Map(element, ( zoom: this.options.zoom, // Select the initial zoom center: latLng, // Set the initial center mapTypeId: gm.MapTypeId.ROADMAP, // Normal map disableDoubleClickZoom: true, // Disable autozoom by tap/double-click disableDefaultUI: true // Disable all interface elements ));

Here Gm is a variable referencing the Google Maps object. I commented out the initialization parameters well in the code. The next step is to draw a man marker on the map:

This.person = new gm.Marker(( map: this.map, icon: new gm.MarkerImage(PERSON_SPRITE_URL, new gm.Size(48, 48)) ));

The address of the person sprite from Google panoramas is used as PERSON_SPRITE_URL. Its static address is maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/cb/mod_cb_scout/cb_scout_sprite_api_003.png . The user will add points by clicking on the map, so to draw them we will listen to the click event:

Gm.event.addListener(this.map, "click", function (event) ( self.requestMessage(function (err, message) ( // Method that returns the text entered by the user if (err) return; // Method adds a dot to the active list and // draws it on the map self.addPoint(event.latLng, self.options.radius, message); self.updatePointsList(); // Redraw the list of points )), false);

I provide most of the code - look for the rest on the disk. Next we need to teach the application to move the user icon on the map. In the prototype, we use the Geolocation API (the one that is also used in desktop browsers):

If (navigator.geolocation) ( // Check if the browser supports geolocation function gpsSuccess(pos) ( var lat, lng; if (pos.coords) ( lat = pos.coords.latitude; lng = pos.coords.longitude; ) else ( lat = pos.latitude; lng = pos.longitude; ) self.movePerson(new gm.LatLng(lat, lng)); // Move the user icon ) // Every three seconds we request the current // position of the user window.setInterval (function () ( // Request the current position navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(gpsSuccess, $.noop, ( enableHighAccuracy: true, maximumAge: 300000 )); , 3000);

The movePerson method uses a simple getPointsInBounds() procedure to check if the user is at any active point. Last question - where to store the list of points? HTML5 introduced the ability to use localStorage, so let's not neglect it (I'll leave you to figure out these parts of the code yourself, which I've commented out well). So, the application running in the browser is ready!

Launching a web application

As I said before, debugging mostly needs to be done on the computer. Most suitable browser for testing web applications on a computer - this is Safari or Chrome. After debugging in these browsers, you can be sure that your application will not work in the browser mobile phone. Both of these browsers are compatible with most mobile web browsers because they are built on the WebKit engine just like them. After eliminating all the bugs, you can proceed to launching the mobile web application directly on your phone. To do this, configure your web server (even Denwer or XAMPP) so that it serves the created page, and open it in your mobile phone browser. The application should look something like the one shown in the figure. It is important to understand here that the future mobile application compiled for the mobile platform using PhoneGap will look almost identical, except that the browser navigation bar will not be displayed on the screen. If all is well, you can start creating a full-fledged iOS application from the page. Please note that PhoneGap and IDE for mobile development We didn’t even touch it until now.

Preparation

In order to build an application for iOS, you need a computer with operating system Mac OS 10.6+ (or virtual machine on Mac OS 10.6), as well as the Xcode development environment with installed iOS SDK. If you do not have the SDK installed, you will have to download a disk image from the Apple website that includes Xcode and the iOS SDK (developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action). Keep in mind that the image weighs about 4 GB. In addition, you will need to register on the Apple website as a developer (if you are not going to publish your application in the AppStore, then this requirement can be bypassed). Using this set, you can develop applications in the native iOS language Objective-C. But we decided to take a workaround and use PhoneGap, so we still need to install the PhoneGap iOS package. Just download the archive from the offsite (https://github.com/callback/phonegap/zipball/1.2.0), unpack it and run the installer in the iOS folder. When the installation is complete, the PhoneGap icon should appear in the Xcode projects menu. After launch, you will have to fill out several forms, but very soon you will see the IDE workspace with your first application. To check if everything is working, click the Run button - the iPhone/iPad emulator with the PhoneGap template application should start. The assembled program will generate an error saying that index.html was not found - this is normal. Open the folder in which you saved the primary project files and find the www subfolder in it. Drag it into the editor, click on the application icon in the list on the left and in the window that appears, select “Create folder references for any added folders”. If you run the program again, everything should work. Now we can copy all the files of our prototype to the www folder. It's time to tweak our prototype to work on a smartphone using PhoneGap processing.

Prototype transfer

First of all, you need to include phonegap-1.2.0.js in your index file. PhoneGap allows you to limit the list of hosts available for visiting. I suggest immediately setting up this “ whitelist" In the project menu, open Supporting Files/PhoneGap.plist, find the ExternalHosts item and add to it the following hosts that our application will access (this Google servers Maps): *.gstatic.com, *.googleapis.com, maps.google.com. If you do not specify them, the program will display a warning in the console and the map will not be displayed. To initialize the web version of our application, we used the DOMReady event or the jQuery helper: $(document).ready(). PhoneGap generates a deviceready event, which indicates that mobile device ready. I suggest using this:

Document.addEventListener("deviceready", function () ( new Notificator($("#map-canvas")); // If the user does not have Internet, // notify him about it if (navigator.network.connection.type = == Connection.NONE) ( navigator.notification.alert("No Internet connection", $.noop, TITLE); ) ), false);
Let's prevent scrolling: document.addEventListener("touchmove", function (event) ( event.preventDefault(); ), false);

Then we will replace all alert and confirm calls with the native ones that PhoneGap provides us with:

Navigator.notification.confirm("Remove point?", function (button_id) ( if (button_id === 1) ( // OK button pressed self.removePoint(point); ) ), TITLE);

The last thing we need to change is the block of code that moves the user icon around the map. Our current code also works, but it works less optimally (it moves the icon even if the coordinates have not changed) and does not provide as rich data as the PhoneGap counterpart:

Navigator.geolocation.watchPosition(function (position) ( self.movePerson(new gm.LatLng(position.coords.latitude, position.coords.longitude)); ), function (error) ( navigator.notification.alert("code: " + error.code + "\nmessage: " + error.message, $.noop, TITLE); ), ( frequency: 3000 ));

This code is more elegant - it only generates an event when the coordinates have changed. Click the Run button and make sure that the application we just created works perfectly in the iOS device simulator! It's time to start launching on a real device.

Launch on device

Connect your iPhone, iPod or iPad to a computer running Xcode. The program will detect a new device and ask permission to use it for development. There is no point in refusing her :). Let me repeat once again: in order to run a written application on iOS, you must be an authorized iOS developer (in other words, be subscribed to the iOS Developer Program). This will only bother you if you are developing applications for Apple products; with other platforms (Android, Windows Phone) everything is much simpler. Those studying at a university have a chance to gain access to the program for free thanks to some benefits. Everyone else must pay $99 per year to participate in the program. Apple issues a certificate with which you can sign your code. The signed application is allowed to run on iOS and be distributed in App Store. If you are not a student, and you still feel sorry for $99 for innocent experiments, then there is another way - to deceive the system. You can create a self-signed certificate to verify your code and run mobile program on a jailbroken iOS device (I won’t dwell on this, because everything is described in as much detail as possible in this article: bit.ly/tD6xAf). One way or another, you will soon see a working application on the screen of your mobile phone. Stop the stopwatch. How long did it take you?

Other platforms

Besides PhoneGap, there are other platforms that allow you to create mobile applications without using native languages. Let's list the coolest players.

Appcelerator Titanium (www.appcelerator.com).

Titanium can build applications primarily for Android and iPhone, but it also claims to support BlackBerry. In addition to the framework itself, the project provides a set of native widgets and IDE. You can develop applications on Titanium for free, but you will have to pay for support and additional modules (from $49 per month). The price of some third-party modules reaches $120 per year. The developers of Appcelerator Titanium claim that more than 25 thousand applications have been written based on their framework. Source code The project is distributed under the Apache 2 license.

Corona SDK (www.anscamobile.com/corona).

This technology supports the main platforms - iOS and Android. The framework is aimed mainly at game development. Of course, the developers claim high-quality optimization on OpenGL. Free version the platform does not, and the price is quite steep: $199 per year for a license for one platform and $349 per year for iOS and Android. Corona offers its own IDE and device emulators. Corona applications are written in a language similar to JavaScript.

Conclusion

We created a simple mobile web application and in a few simple steps ported it to the iOS platform using PhoneGap. We didn't write a single line of Objective-C code, but we got a program of decent quality, spending a minimum of time porting and learning the PhoneGap API. If you prefer another platform, for example Android or Windows Mobile 7, then you can just as easily, without any changes for these platforms, build our application (for each of them there is a good introductory manual and video tutorial: phonegap.com/start) . To verify the platform’s viability, you can look at ready-made applications on PhoneGap, which the technology developers have collected in a special gallery (phonegap.com/apps). In fact, PhoneGap is an ideal platform for creating at least a prototype of a future application. Its main advantages are speed and minimal costs, which are actively used by startups that are limited in resources in all respects. If the application fails, and for some reason you are no longer satisfied with the HTML+JS internals, you can always port the application to a native language. I can’t help but say that PhoneGap was originally developed by Nitobi as an open source project (the repository is located on GitHub: github.com/phonegap). The source code will continue to remain open, although Adobe bought Nitobi last October. Need I say what prospects the project has with the support of such a giant?

The Android operating system is one of the most popular mobile platforms in the world today. Almost every owner Android smartphone I would like to receive a unique application that will suit him in a particular case, but it is not always possible to find such an application. In this article we will talk to you about how to make an Android application yourself using free methods.

Due to the rapid development of the Android platform, some functions of the described programs may change, so to clarify any details, write in the comments. Last edition - 01/20/2018.

Naturally, progress does not stand still and with the development of the Android OS there are more and more opportunities to create various kinds of applications that are suitable for it. And if recently, only a specialist who studied this at the institute could create it, now he can do it any owner of a phone or tablet Android in online mode.

Users can create their own application in order to please themselves with a unique program. Or they can do it in order to earn some money. Today the Internet provides all the opportunities for this.

The tools described below will allow you to create your own application in several stages.

Some of the presented programs allow you not only to do, but also monetize immediately his. Also, any of the created applications can be placed on the system Google Play.

Four ways to make an Android app yourself

Below you will find four “tools” that will allow you to create such an application quickly and without special knowledge. Such programs are reminiscent of construction kits that allow you to create everything you need block by block, a good analogy with assembling the familiar LEGO construction set.

All programs presented here were selected according to the following criteria:

• Convenient use. Naturally, these proposals will not be used by trained specialists, but regular users, like you and me. That is why the application should be very convenient, functional, and easy to use.
• Intuitively simple interface. Logically speaking, this point seems to follow from the previous one, which means the program should not only be convenient, but also intuitive.
• Great functionality. The wide variety of ways to create an application is a definite plus. Although all the programs presented, on average, have the same functions, with the exception of some minor details.

Below we will take a look at a selection of tools that will help you create your very first application.

App Builder - a simple tool for creating applications

Program features

• There is a huge selection of templates for creating an application. If you have some simple application in mind, then this program will easily help you select a template;
• After creating the application, you can monitor its statistics;
• If you create an app and it passes review, it can be easily and fairly easily listed on the Google Play Store.

AppsGeyser - a site for creating high-quality Android applications on your own

Official website - https://www.appsgeyser.com

This tool is better than the previous one, because there are many more opportunities for creating your own application. The site allows you to create your own program in just a few minutes. This editor is the simplest of all that we have encountered. The list of applications that it will help you make is very large, starting from a regular browser and ending with your own messenger.

Benefits of AppsGeyser

• The application is written quite quickly, literally in a couple of clicks;
• It allows you to create simple games for Android, because you must admit that not every tool today can do this;
• Once the application is ready, it can be easily placed in the Google Play store;
• In addition, you can monetize your program directly through the AppsGeyser service. This useful feature, because by showing your imagination, you can also make money from it;
• Create, edit, publish an application online in personal account(so that the results are saved).

IbuildApp - a powerful engine for developing your own projects

This tool deserves a really thorough look. As we discussed above, you don't need to know a programming language to create Android apps. The development platform is so simple that creating your own application will be very simple. The process will only take a few minutes, but the result will be obvious.

The IbuildApp website has both paid tariffs (development of an individual application, with further development) and free templates, of which there are a lot.

Russian official website - https://russia.ibuildapp.com

Let's see what it can do:

• A huge archive of topics on a variety of topics: it could be restaurants, cafes, sports activities, and many other topics that allow you to choose anything you want. All you need to do is select something specific, and then edit it to suit your needs;
• It also has built-in ways to promote the created application. The program not only helps you quickly create an application, but also promotes it. In other cases, this process takes a very long time;
• In addition, you can connect the application to advertising network, which means you will earn money from it.

AppsMakerstore - a platform for creating simple programs

Official website - https://appsmakerstore.com

The fourth cool platform that is designed to create Android applications. Probably one of the most important advantages is that using the AppsMakerStore website you can create programs that will be multi-platform (for example, on Android, iOS and Windows Phone)

Let's look at the advantages of the platform:

• Work with the designer takes place online;
• Possibility of free registration;
• Writing applications using ready-made layouts, while a huge selection of templates on the topic is provided to each user.

Video instructions for creating an application using APK Creator

But I think that among my readers there are many who have not heard anything about him. In general, if you still don’t know anything about this service, as well as how to make money from it, then let’s close the gaps in knowledge.

is a platform developed for the purpose of selling applications for the Android OS, that is, to be objective, the platform sells applications for the operating system, which is used by half of the world market of mobile phones and smartphones.

Google Android is an operating system like windows. Only here, at its core, lies Linux kernel. What happened with this operating system was roughly the same as what happened with many other Google projects. That is, originally the company Android, Inc. worked for itself, developed the technology itself, and then Google simply noticed it and bought it in 2005. I bought it in full, directly with the employees. The first release of the platform took place in 2008.

Previously, Android was a little damp, but today it is already a fairly mature operating system. Several powerful updates have already been released for it. Phones are already completely full program stuffed with Android operating systems. Eric Schmidt, a senior Google official, says that more than 60 thousand Android devices are sold every day around the world. Isn't it true that there is a gradual monopolization? And in general, there seems to be nothing surprising, considering who is in charge of this entire project.

Earning money on Android Market

Now let's get back to where we started. Making money is as follows: you need to create your own application, upload it to the Android Market, set a price for this application, and put it up for sale. Or you can do it differently: make the application available for free download, and earn money by placing advertising in it.

I would like to clarify two points right away. The first is that the ability to sell applications is not available in every country. For example, as far as I know, this cannot be done in Ukraine and Belarus, but in Russians it is possible. That is, in theory, not just anyone can work with the platform. The second thing is that do not rush to be afraid of the words that you need to develop your own application. I understand that many of you are not programmers, and I am not a programmer myself, but this does not at all deprive us of the opportunity to make money on the Android Market, and below I will tell you why.

Below is an example of the most popular applications with price tags

How do app creators make money on the Android Market?

In general, it is logical in itself that if applications are bought, then they can be sold. Therefore, welcome to the other side Android Market, the one where app creators hang out. In general, the most important obstacle is the division into normal countries and abnormal ones. If you live in a normal country, you can sell applications. But, most likely, you live in the same place as me - in Russia, therefore, we have certain restrictions here, namely, all sellers are required to register a Google Checkout Merchant Account, and citizens living in the post-Soviet space do not have this opportunity. This kind of garbage is very reminiscent of the situation with, where it was not possible to accept payments, but it probably won’t be available for God knows how long. In general, this is such a serious bummer. But, of course, nothing is unsolvable. Here you can work either through friends abroad, or simply search through the same offices that offer intermediary services. By the way, there are plenty of them.

True, if you don’t want to work through intermediaries, then here are two more stores, there are no these delays:

There are three ways to make money on Android Market:

Selling applications to users (the main type of income)

Implementation of paid functions in free applications

Most likely, you will now decide that you read the article in vain, because you are not programmers at all, but don’t worry, guys, is it really difficult to get a little creative? I worked in several companies where my boss had virtually no understanding of the intricacies of our work. All these people, in essence, were simply representative persons, nothing more. But each of them had one feature that, probably, many of us did not have - the ability to find suitable personnel.

Here in in this case the main thing is to find those who will write this application for you. Although they say that programmers are snickering people, nevertheless, when I recently had the need to update the version, I found a programmer who did everything cheaply and cheerfully, and with high quality. The main thing here is the idea of ​​the application, the ability to find suitable personnel, and, of course, the ability to negotiate.

As for the idea of ​​the application, it will be all the easier if you decide to create something very simple, like some kind of book or reference book, because making it is the work of several hours, and they won’t charge you much.

The cost of creating applications on Android

In order to objectively assess the cost of developing an Android application, let’s go to our flagship of the domestic labor supply/demand market - http://www.free-lance.ru/ in the “Programming for cell phones" Here it is immediately worth considering that work from freelancers is charged either per hour of work or per month of work. As I said above, developing a simple application will take several hours. Based on this, we look and evaluate

I found the first profile I came across, I go in and see what the person can do. I see that among his completed projects there is this one

Just for fun, I go to Google Play, look at the characteristics of the application, including whether it is free. I see it's free

There are two conclusions from this. Firstly, if you come up with some simple application, you can order it from even the coolest proger freelance.ru and invest $100. Secondly, this application (which is in the example above) of taxi databases is free, which once again confirms the functionality of the scheme for making money on free applications. Confirms it indirectly, but still. Who the hell needs to order application development from a developer, then post it on the Android Market for free, and have nothing from it?

In addition, you can do the following: order the software shell once, and then simply change the content in the application. As a result, it will turn out that all subsequent applications will cost us much less.

And in general, for that matter. You don’t even have to come up with it yourself. It can be taken from open sources. Copy-paste, in other words. So it turns out that even a beginner who knows nothing about programming can make money on the Android Market.

Examples of successful developers and their earnings

The most problematic thing is, of course, looking into the developer’s wallet. And so one can only guess how much money they actually have. With websites, for example, it’s easier. I’ve already talked about how to spy on the income of website owners, but with applications everything is different. They don’t give exact figures, so you can only estimate earnings indirectly. But even if we estimate it indirectly, then, for example, I can estimate “by eye” the income of the developers IceWyrm and Maria Ionova. See for yourself, here are their applications

Everything here is free

Some of them are already paid.

So, I cannot estimate exactly how many applications were purchased, but there are approximate data on the number of application installations. If you go to the application description, you can see approximately the following numbers in the right sidebar:

These are the statistics for the “Words of Wise” app from developer IceWyrm. full list applications of which I showed in the screenshot above. As I already said, all of his applications are free. But look for yourself, what a huge potential they have.

The number of installations ranges from 0.5 to 1 million. If you believe the information that from 1 million views you get $500, then you can estimate how much you earn here. One viewing of an advertising banner is one page. What if there are 100 or even more of these pages in the application? The same jokes or popular expressions. An application can have thousands of pages. And if every user who downloaded the application logs into the application every day and browses the pages, then that amounts to thousands and thousands of dollars. And if you consider that the developer will distribute not just one application, but several, tens, hundreds, then it turns out that the potential for such earnings is simply enormous.

I didn’t really look for the very best applications here, I just, as they say, hit it “by eye”, and that’s all. If Google provided more accurate information here, then it would be possible to estimate, but for now I’m focusing only on other sources: $500 for 1 million views), or on a large scale - invested $100, and ended up earning €56 million (http: //www.finansmag.ru/97050/).

How to start making money on Android Market

Nothing is impossible. There is only your reluctance. Therefore, I will talk about the prospects of the markets a little lower, and now in a few words I will tell you how to get started.

There is absolutely nothing complicated here. A simple competitor analysis, everything as usual:

Let's look at who is promoting what on the Android Market today. There is download data there, so you can quickly assess what is downloaded and what is not.

No need to copy existing applications. Just take existing popular applications as a basis and come up with something new based on them. In any case, we need to come up with something useful for people

Go through the profiles of programmers who write applications for Android, ask them if they have any interesting idea. At the same time, see how much they charge for their work.

Once we have an idea, we look for a suitable freelancer, and off we go.

Prospects for the development of the mobile application market, in particular Android

There is a lot that can be said here, but I’d rather rely on official statistics. Although it is not so fresh, it is still very informative. Today, Android OS is the most popular. This OS surpassed the former market leader – Symbian back in 2010

Therefore, today this OS is the undisputed leader on the market.

Of course, it would be great to look into the future to see what will happen next. After all, today Android is a leader, but tomorrow it may not be a leader. In any case, I think that this OS will live for several more years, and will live successfully.

As for us - ordinary Internet users who want, then all this will be enough for our age. Moreover, today it is not necessary to create a this type making money on a special website, buying content, etc. Content can generally be taken from the public. Therefore, the most important thing here is the concept of the application. Because no one will sell you a good concept. This is the real work!

Mobile application development has long been a good piece of bread with butter and caviar for many. If you are just starting out on this path, or are planning to go, here is a small guide for you, what to pay attention to, and how exactly you can make money.

Ways to make money developing mobile applications

You can actually make money in different ways. More precisely, to find the end buyer in different ways. Or you can not search at all, but try to monetize your own project.

It’s like with websites: you can make something to order for someone, you can make it for the soul and sell it, or you can launch your own and make money from it.

The same pattern applies to applications.

Search for customers

I just ask you, don’t immediately go the route of organizing your own agency. So we decided to make money with applications - that’s it, I immediately open my agency, fill out all the documents and sit and wait for the clients to come.

Test the waters yourself first. Think about what kind of business you are interested in working with. Who can you help, who can you offer your services to? Maybe there are already other online agencies that just need a partner like you.

And remember: in finding clients for services (and mobile application development is a service), only active sales work. You won't be able to sit idly by. You will need to run, offer, search.

You can team up with a web developer who makes websites and work together. If the business works out, then create an agency.

Who can I offer development to? Those types of businesses that really need it. For example, a good restaurant will not refuse an application for booking tables and viewing the menu, right?

Sell ​​ready-made

A good option for creative individuals who are always full of ideas. You can develop an application and offer to buy it. But if in the first case you need to look for a customer, then it’s even more difficult to find a buyer. One who will like your solution and want to buy it.

And time for development will already be spent, as well as energy. The option is a little risky, on the other hand, the client will immediately see the capabilities of the application, and this is more convincing than an abstract idea.

Earn money by monetizing your own

The most favorite way to make money from apps is to monetize your own.

Because you don't depend on anyone. There is no need to look for a customer or buyer, listen to the terms and study technical specifications, you are completely free and can do what you like and how you like. The main thing is that your idea is well received by people, who should then download and install your application.

This is a good way to create a source of additional, almost passive income. Why “almost passive”? Because if you want your application to be downloaded and used, you need to work on it constantly. You need to listen to wishes and comments, work on mistakes and think about improvements.

After the first successful running application you will understand what works best in your case, and you will be able to launch the second or third, soon completely forgetting about searching for clients, fulfilling orders and office work (if you have one now).

A natural question arises:

What to develop?

You can just start developing what you like. Everything is in your hands! If you yourself are missing some application, you have long wanted to make your own, why not?

Just study the market first. You can use many channels to poll the public - will they use such an application? Even a simple survey on a social network will help you see the big picture, so you don’t waste time developing something that no one needs.

Now we come to the most interesting part - what do people need?

The American company Liftoff conducted an interesting study among mobile applications last year.

In its report, Liftoff points out that the “games” category confidently leads among all smartphone applications, generating $34.8 billion worldwide. This is 85% of total revenue in the application market in 2015. At the same time, despite the huge number of applications appearing weekly (2,750 in the App Store alone), income from them continues to grow. At the same time, competition is also increasing: application developers need to make efforts to find, attract and retain their users.

So, not everything is so simple here: making and pouring is only half the battle. You need to think about advertising and how to make your application cooler than others.

The study contains a lot of other information useful to you. For example, there are twice as many iOS apps where users register (a key action that helps developers engage audiences in their apps) compared to similar Android apps.

And what’s most interesting is that most often domestic purchases are made by men, not women.

Okay, games. Which games engage the audience the most? Action, arcade, strategy?

As the same study showed, the action-adventure genre, contrary to popular belief, has the lowest engaged audience. The leaders are card applications.

Comparing the two largest application platforms - iOS and Android - it should be noted that the CPI (cost per install, price per installation of an application) on iOS is 60% higher than on Android. CPR (cost per registration) is 73% higher, CP-IAP (cost per in-app purchase) is 30% higher.

But the study, remember, was conducted in America. It’s clear that they love iOS more. In the CIS countries the picture is completely different: there are more installations on Android devices, they are more popular here. But as the experience of familiar mobile application developers shows, Android owners make purchases much less often than iOS owners.

You can also earn money from your application through advertising. Do you play Talking Tom? Have you seen how many advertisements there are in it? For all these videos, the owners of the game receive money from advertisers. But here it is important not to lose balance, so as not to turn the application into an advertising dump that pushes people away.

Create. Implement it. Earn money!

A modern smartphone is a gadget without which it is difficult to imagine daily life. It replaces a huge number of things, from a banal calendar to a camera.

Interestingly, the mobile phone on the system Android can also become a place to earn money. Of course, you can’t get a huge amount of money this way, however, you can earn extra money for your mobile phone account or just for pocket expenses.

What methods of earning money are there?

Today, there are two completely different paths along which you can “move” to make a profit from Android applications:

1. Working with other people's applications, that is, viewing ads, downloading, commenting, reviews, and so on. This is a simple option that does not require special knowledge to earn money. Typically, programs independently instruct beginners. Understanding this matter is quite simple, but the profit will be very modest.
2. Development of your own applications, games and utilities. This type of activity will require knowledge of at least several programming languages, for example, C++ or Java.
   You can create programs either alone or together with someone, however, this is a rather complicated method, because competition in this segment is extremely high.
   In the future, you can earn huge sums. The profit of the Rovio studio - the creators of the sensational Angry Birds amounted to about 100 million dollars.

Each of these methods has its positive and negative sides. Therefore, you should understand all the nuances in more detail.

Completing tasks

A special case of the 1st work option. Very rarely you will find downloading, viewing ads, installing applications, commenting, etc. separately. Basically, all these actions are combined in one application (AppTrailers, AppCoins, Apprating), which give you a list of tasks for the day.

Sometimes you will need to leave a review, and sometimes you will need to install an application or view an advertisement. Each necessary action is described in detail in the technical specifications and is evaluated in its own way.

Downloading and opening applications

Today on the Internet there are many different services that pay for installing applications.

Most of them revolve around the idea of ​​“transmission” or distribution. This means that you will receive money whenever someone installs this application via your link.

It is worth noting that you will not be required to make any investments or extra costs, everything is absolutely free. This is necessary for the developers of a particular game to make their way up the special ratings. The higher the number of downloads, the higher the popularity and profitability of the application. This is what money is paid for.

What you will need:

• Modern smartphone with Android operating system
• Constant Internet access
• Account in Google service Play and on the exchange that offers this type of earnings

Some tips:

• Work with exchanges/applications that have been on the market for more than one year. There are now too many fraudulent organizations of this kind.
• Invite your friends. Many services additionally pay for each person they attract.
• Read the instructions carefully for each task

Rating and commenting on apps on Google Play

Another very common type of making money on Android games. The popularity of an application often depends heavily on its ratings and comments on Google Play. This is why some developers successfully pay for good reviews.

As a rule, this type of part-time job is included in a simple list of tasks that various “money” applications provide, for example, AppCoins or AppNana.

What you should know when performing such tasks:

• Usually they ask for a detailed comment, which is impossible to write without playing the game for at least a couple of minutes. Options in the style of “everything is super”, “ great program" or " best app" - do not fit. Write a competent and interesting review, but don’t get too carried away.
• Be sure to re-read the technical specification several times. Perhaps there are more specific requirements for your words, etc.
• Don't forget to give the app a good rating(even if it is not specified in the task).

Watching videos in apps

This type of earnings is also, in most cases, one of the options for tasks in applications like Apprating or AppCoins.

All you need to do is watch the video, most often in full or for a set amount of time. Usually this video talks about other games from this company and is of an advertising nature.

Viewing ads in apps

A special case of watching videos, though 95% All the videos you watch will be advertising.

Of course, such tasks are low-paid, but, on the other hand, you don’t have to bother too much and don’t even watch them. Just turn on your computer and do whatever your heart desires while the video plays.

Other original options

Google Play has enough large number applications that offer to make money on Android. However, even among them there are original ones.

The Mover program allows the user to go shopping and scan the barcodes of certain products, after which the user is awarded special points that can later be exchanged for real money. (Unfortunately, it only works in Moscow for now).

Clashot- created specifically for connoisseurs of the art of photography. All pictures that are uploaded to the application automatically end up on the Internet. The most original works are sent to auction. After a successful sale, the money goes to account Google Play.

There are other interesting types of applications, for example, taking social surveys.

Creating applications and selling them through Google Play

This is absolutely reverse side medals. This type of income can be called a real alternative real work, but only on condition that you have talent, fresh ideas and the ability to bring them to life. There is nothing to do here without knowing a couple of programming languages.

It should be understood that selling your application even for $1 is not a very good idea for a novice programmer or a small studio.

Nowadays the model is much more popular free-to-play, so the main types of income are in-game purchases and, of course, advertising.

Creating applications and how to make money by placing advertisements in it

First, you should put aside in-game purchases, because the simple toy you created does not reach the level of industry giants “Clash of Clans” or “Angry Birds”.

Of course, there will always be people willing to throw a few dollars into absolutely any game, but young companies and programmers should place the main emphasis on advertising.

This used to be a real privilege for successful developers, but today it is available to everyone. You should monetize your own application wisely; you should not use too much advertising, because it can scare users away from it.

Making money on Android applications is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Of course, you won't make a ton of money unless your games are truly original and interesting. When creating, pay more attention to advertising, because it is this that guarantees your profit.

As for using other people's applications, the main thing here is to understand their work. Clarify what is required of you, whether there are deadlines, and so on. Attentiveness and accuracy- the key to success in this matter.