No Code platforms such as Bubble, Adalo and Glide have without exaggeration changed the app development industry.

It used to be the case that without 10k to hire a developer or the ability to code yourself-- and code well-- conceiving and developing an app was a pipe dream for those in the non-tech world. 

We know now that with a bit of preparation and guidance, building an app is less like trying to scale Everest in flip flops, and more like that scene in Rocky when he runs up the stairs: not easy, but far from impossible with training and persistence. 

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It almost feels like a magic solution, right? Boom! Drag and drop! Pow! Now we’ve got a landing page! Although modern no code platforms are comprehensive, they do have limitations. 

At AWC we believe in transparency and having the right expectations, so here’s what you should keep in mind before choosing a platform to build your application! 

What Can’t I do with No Code? 

This is a loaded question because what you can and can’t do is constantly changing. As technology evolves, limits are pushed. 

At the moment, virtual reality and augmented reality are tricky, although Facebook has launched Spark AR, a tool for augmented reality. 

Since we focus on Glide App in the 8-week AWC Bootcamp, let’s take a deep dive. 

What are the limitations of Glide App? 

Keep in mind, with almost every limitation comes a workaround! 

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Fact: having an experienced coach or mentor can mean the difference between your app being an unfinished hobby, and a polished product ready for the market. 

What Can’t Glide Apps do? 

• Emoji apps. Simply not possible... at the moment.. 
• You cannot store credit card information with Glide, BUT you can store it in your browser via Apple or Google. 
• Glide cannot create graphical animation overlays, BUT it can add images in blocks that are gifs and even explainer videos to your app.
• Glide Apps can’t do uber style GPS tracking where something moves real time across the map, BUT it can show status updates on a map, more like Grubhub or UPS.
• You can't do in-app notifications, BUT you can configure a text or email notification. 
• With Glide you cannot do drink add-ons, BUT you can add drinks to cart. 
• With Glide you cannot have a live dot that moves in real-time, BUT you can calculate distance based on your current location to another address.
• With Glide App you cannot do anything with more than 25,000 rows, BUT AWC can recommend how to back up this data so you can continue using your app.  
• You cannot connect an API, BUT you can use Zapier as a workaround. 
• With Glide App, you can't make payments to multiple places. It only connects to one Stripe account. 
  

There is a learning curve with No Code platforms, but more than anything there are complications when you, as a developer, don’t know what you want or lack the right words to communicate what you need. 

Here’s our advice: save the fancy tech terms, and use normal language when building your application. If you get to the root of what you need the app to do, it’s simple. 

Here’s an example: 

An AWC alumna created an app to help companies tweak their mission statements. 

She wanted “text analysis”. She wanted her app to look for keywords to convey a certain emotion or tone, and to shift the text to make the mission statement cohesive. 

What she thought she wanted: text analysis. 

What she actually needed: Mad Libs! 

How did she find a solution? 

She set up 3 questions for her users to answer about their company, created a drop-down menu of the emotions / tones to choose from, and let the formula do the rest. 

A fill-in-the-gap approach versus her original proposal of analysing a text. 

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For example: 

Who is the audience you serve? 

What do you help them with?

What’s your annual budget?

Then choose a sentiment: silly, serious, youthful etc. 

Enter: Mad Libs

Now, let the formula work its magic!

She didn’t actually require text analysis, she needed to break down to the barest of bones what she needed to achieve from this feature of her app. 

All that to say, before you write off a platform as being limited, make sure you’re using the right words, decide what you’re optimizing, and when in doubt, consult with some who knows!

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