Mobile — Does Open As App Deliver As Advertised?
“Turns boring business data into a mobile app instantly”
“Businesses can simply upload their Excel spreadsheets or Google Docs/Sheets, and the Open As App technology automatically creates an app across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 10 and web, via an Open As App container app.”
The promise that I can turn my boring spreadsheet data into a mobile app instantly? That headline caught my attention!
I immediately decided to give it a trial run under the free plan. My quick and dirty assessment? It works — and I will definitely be investing some more time into this!
The Process
As promised, it is relatively painless — and quick — to make this happen.
I have a Google Spreadsheet that lists all of my Medium posts (it populates automatically through an IFTTT applet). I am going to turn that Google list into a mobile app for my iPhone…
So, I went to the homepage and set up an account.
Hover over the left menu-bar icons and a floating menu pops out. Select the + App Creator item.
On this next screen, you choose your data source — either a local Excel on your computer or a cloud service account (Dropbox, Web URL , Google Drive, or Microsoft files).
In my test, I used Google Spreadsheet file — it was seamless to locate it and load it in. Here is what happens then (no screenshots for this).
- It “looks” at the data and determines it is a LIST and uses the list template.
- You click next and it converts it to an “app” and gives you a preview (it was fine).
- I click on Publish, name the mobile app, provide a description and I am done.
Now, over to the mobile app. Download and install the Open As App on your device (iPhone in my case).
Open the app and access menu — if needed.
Tap line item, item is displayed full page — then simply tap link to access content!
Conclusion
A simple example of converting a Google spreadsheet list to a mobile app. Granted, it’s a simple example. Amazingly, it was easy to do and was intuitive to figure out!
Open As App will certainly get more of my time in the future. The possibilities are compelling!
Are you going to look into this? Would it be useful to you?
About Don
Don Tomoff is a “recovering CPA”, who is passionate about helping professionals and organizations keep up and adapt to the changing business world that we operate in.
One lesson learned over the years is that all of us, regardless of organization type or size, struggle with similar issues — primarily information management and presentation, and effective use of our time. Let’s change that…one person at a time!
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