While making apps with MIT App Inventor, there is much more going on than just learning to code. The mission of MIT App Inventor is to democratize coding so that everyone, regardless of age, schooling, or profession, has the opportunity to create technology. Coaches, players, teachers, students, doctors, patients, conductors, cellists, pilots, or passengers can all make mobile apps that are important to them and that make their lives happier, better, or more productive.
As a digital solution, your app may have originally been intended to solve a problem that you observed or experienced. But once you share it in an app marketplace, it could impact people you don't even know and may never meet. MIT App Inventor makes it possible for you to expand your scope of influence from your immediate local community to a worldwide scale. You can bring others joy and laughter with a simple game, you can help college-bound seniors study for a standardized test, or you can provide a tool that teaches travelers common phrases in other languages. Contributing positively to society is one awesome way to use your new rockstar MIT App Inventor skills.
As you begin creating apps and see the impact they have on others, you may broaden the scope of what you think is possible for yourself. Have you thought about becoming a social entrepreneur? Will people pay for the technology you have created? Does your app have the growth potential to serve new and different users? How can you expand your business acumen to learn how to build and market successful mobile apps? Even though you will be starting off with small and simple apps, always remember to dream big in what you do and who you are.
While MIT App Inventor offers an easy and approachable way to learn about coding and software development, it may indeed also serve as an on-ramp for further computer science education. Once you see the skill growth potential, such as how creating technology can positively impact others or that you can sell your digital solutions, you may indeed become interested in expanding your knowledge of technology further by delving into other software languages or science learning opportunities, such as maker-spaces or hackathons.
MIT App Inventor empowers anyone regardless of age or coding experience to transform an app idea into a prototype and ultimately into a full-fledged mobile application. What will your app do? As you begin your app-making journey, you may wonder about what types of apps could you possibly create with App Inventor? Since the apps you make will be shared or sold for use on an Android smartphone or tablet, you can create apps that access the full functionality of those devices. Your apps could do things such as speak, take photos (or selfies), make phone calls, text, translate SMS messages, Tweet, play music or videos, use GPS (maps or other websites), scan bar codes, set timers (alarms or reminders), control robots, launch others apps, track your movement, and so on. Given the array of the abilities of Android devices, the possibilities seem endless!
Before beginning to learn MIT App Inventor, we think it is helpful to review some examples MIT App Inventor apps so that you have an idea ahead of time of a range of possibilities. As you start learning MIT App Inventor, you can begin by making simple apps; but in the back of your mind, remember this array of app examples, as they can serve goals or be an inspiration to help you unlock your creativity and designing skills. Think of it this way if you want to become a watercolor painter, but have never painted before, you would look at many watercolor paintings made by professionals or people with more experience than you to get inspired, to have a visual of what is possible, and to learn how the paintings were created.
The following examples are a mix of beginning, intermediate, and advanced MIT App Inventor apps. Some were created by individuals, who were inspired to make a specific app, while others were created by groups of people for a project or as a contest submission. One thing all of these apps have in common is that before the app developers spent hours and hours perfecting their UIs and creating blocks of code, they were just like you, starting out with little or no previous coding experience. All of the skills you develop in this book through basic and intermediate app-making will serve as a solid foundation for you to build upon to be able to create more complex, sophisticated apps in the future. The introductory tutorials will teach you the MIT App Inventor basics and equip you to tackle app creation from scratch.
Jari Pohjasmäki from Finland developed the following useful and simple Stopwatch and Timer app:
Components used: Button, Label, TextBox, Image, ListPicker, Arrangements, Clock, and Notifier
This app mimics the classic game of Yahtzee, where the object of the game is to score points by rolling five dice. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn and the game will consist of 13 rounds. Each player scores their roll in one of the 13 categories. Once a category has been used, it cannot be used again. Rolling a Yahtzee is five-of-a-kind and scores 50 points; the highest of any category. Whoever scores most points will win!
The following screenshots show the total gameplay points for different roles of the dice:
Components used: Button, Label, Notifier, and Alignments
Vicenta Albeldo and Jesus Gil created BYJS3, a digital pet game. This app allows you to play with, feed, and bathe your very own virtual pet. The following screenshots show the incorporated hand-drawn images that the developers have animated:
Components used: Clock, TinyDB, Image, Alignments, Canvas, and Sound
Developed by Andrea Zaffardi from Italy, Loops won the MIT App of the Month contest in June 2015. It is a puzzle game that requires the player to rotate the pipes to form a closed loop before time runs out. There are 100 levels of gameplay. The following screenshots show the game in the various stages:
Components used: Image, Player, Clock, Sounds, TinyDB, Button, Label, Slider, and Alignments
Dr. Arun Mehta from India created Quartet for his niece, who loves to dance, but hates math. He wanted to show her how math can convert movement into things, such as graphics and music. With a wave of the phone, the app plays music with as many as four instruments (piano, pan flute, strings, and tin drums) while displaying animated graphics. Music starts and stops with a simple screen touch. A button displays a list of instruments for the user to choose among. If just one instrument is selected, the app will play all of individual keys of that instrument. Moving the phone in different patterns will create new music!
The following screenshots show visuals as the app plays music:
Components used: Accelerometer, Canvas, Ball, ImageSprite, Button, Label, Sound, Player, Alignments, and Animation
Created by Meghraj Singh of India, Brain Reaction Accelerator is a puzzle app that provides brain teasers to be solved within a time frame. There are five games to choose from, including Refocus, True Color, Quick Pick, Sum It Up, and Expression Puzzle. Compete against your best score or among global users. The following screenshots show a sequence from registering to choosing and playing a game:
Components used: Button, Label, Alignments, ListPicker, TextField, Canvas, ImageSprite
Created by Derek Drew from the United States, Construction Calculator is a tool for people on building sites. It performs unit conversions, assists with project management, provides a to-do list keeper, and measures distances. It has an autodialing feature for calling customers or vendors, but includes autotexting for safety while driving to or from a site. The following screenshots show the home screen, a screen to calculate volume, and a location screen:
Components used: Button, Label, WebViewer, LocationSensor, Alignments, SMS Messaging, ListPicker, and TextField
In the spring of 2015, MIT students Carolina Morgan, Fei Xu, Marcel Williams, and Rida Qadri created the mobile app UMATI for the urban planning course 11.S938: Crowd Sourced City—Social Media, Technology, and Planning Processes. The class enabled students to work with actual planning and advocacy organizations to develop digital technology solutions for planning problems. Matatus bus routes in Nairobi were not standardized. They were often created and changed by the whim of private drivers or as a result of traffic conditions and it was difficult to know which buses traveled which routes and where the buses stopped. The MIT Civic Design Lab, the University of Nairobi, the Center for Sustainable Urban Development, and GroupShot helped to create maps using GPS, but the challenge that the MIT students tackled was keeping the maps accurate and current. Their solution used the MIT App Inventor to create UMATI, a crowd-sourced app, to track riders' routes and stops. They incentivize riders to collect data by offering them tokens (called MaTokens) that give discounts at local businesses. The following screenshots show the home screen and the Track Me screen:
Components used: Button, Clock, Notifier, Image, Label, Location Sensor, ActivityStarter, FusiontablesControls, and Alignments
Created by Arjun Santhosh Kumar, an eighth grader from Chennai, India, Ez School Bus Locator is a location-tracking app that allows schools, parents, and students to monitor the location of school buses through voice activation or a key tap. Students scan a QR code upon entering and exiting the bus, so parents can track their children's routes to and from school. Automated SMS messaging keeps parents informed. The following screenshots show the home screen and two views of a location-tracking screen:
Components used: SMS messaging, GPS, map, QR Code, Button, Image, and Alignments
This is an app that enables podcast listeners to rate radio shows and offer feedback.
Youth Radio is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, CA. Youth Radio programs empower young people to create media content by teaching them broadcast journalism and technology skills. Many of the podcasts that the students create are aired on National Public Radio across the United States. In an effort to interact with their listeners, develop relevant content, and get feedback, Youth Radio students created a mobile app with MIT App Inventor 2, enabling listeners to rate a radio show, add comments, and offer suggestions for future topics.
The following screenshots show the different ways that listeners can interact with Youth Radio:
Components used: Button, Clock, Notifier, Image, Camera, TinyDB, Player, Sharing, Label, Location Sensor, FusiontablesControls, Alignments, and MediaStore
Rover 800 Remote app is an MIT App Inventor example of the Internet of Things. Paul Clements from the UK built a Bluetooth controller for his car that, with the help of microcontroller (sensor), can control the door locks, trunk release, fuel flap release, horn, and lights. It also remembers the car's address (if available), so if the cell phone housing the app is inadvertently locked in the car along with the keys, a text message sent from another phone can unlock the car. This app could be modified for a wide range of vehicles. The following screenshots show the home screen, the registration screen, and the overview screen:
Components used: Bluetooth, List Picker, Button, Label, Image, and Alignments
