LinkedIn
Twitter
The whole idea behind AppSheet is that mobile apps on smartphone are important because most people have their smartphones with them all the time. AppSheet had grown in part due to the growing recognition that people need an interface to let them interact with data via a smartphone as efficiently or nearly as efficiently as they might on a computer. But, when it comes to app editing and management, it would seem that the mobile interface is only an afterthought and that it is assumed that editing will only be done on a computer. Two examples . . .
1. Hidden "Manage" icon
I had a hard time figuring out how to tap on "manage" to do the task I had in mind.
In this case, it turns out that turning the phone on its side doesn't help. The dialogue icon continues to be in the way. Through trial and error I learned that I could navigate to the "manage" menu by tapping on the white space just to the right of the dialogue icon and the underlying "manage" icon. But, of course, that's not very intuitive or elegant. A better solution would be to program in a little more empty space at the bottom, under "manage," so that when the creator pulls the "manage" icon up above the dialogue icon it wouldn't have to spring back to its hidden position. By the way, I checked on an iPhone and on an Android device and the problem was the same on both.
2. No access to the "Share" option without turning the phone on its side
First, here's what you can do if your phone is in landscape mode:
The problem is, when a phone is in portrait mode, you can't access the three vertical dots to get to the share option. On all of my devices, portrait mode looks like this:
It's not that my screenshot is oddly cut off after the letter "M" in the blue circle -- that's the way it looks on the screen. More importantly, there's no way to get to the menu that's available in landscape mode.
Possible solutions:
(a) Redesign the "Save" button which is currently taking up way too much real estate and make so that all of the needed icons can squeeze in.
(b) Make the blue circle with the letter in it take the creator to a menu that combines the contents of the blue circle and the vertical dots. That would look like this:
The reason I have a screenshot of this is not that I photoshopped it -- if you start in landscape mode, tap on the three vertical dots, them put your phone in portrait mode you get this. If the blue circle with a letter in it would take us to this menu while in portrait mode, all would be well.
While smartphones are not very good for app building, they should be more than sufficient for simple management tasks (making a copy of an app or sharing your app with someone). Please make it less painful to do these tasks on a phone.