How to make a mobile application for Android yourself. How to Write an Android Application Using Android Studio

Do you have an idea to create a mobile application, but you doubt whether you have enough knowledge and skills to create it? Even if you don't know anything about creating mobile apps, you can still create one and even make money from it.

Idea

Work on creating an application begins with an idea. First, think about who you want to make the application for. For example, if you live in a big city where there are a lot of tourists, then you can think about creating an application for them. There are a lot of options.

Also, think about your hobbies and interests. Let's say you travel frequently and want to visit the most famous clubs around the world. You've made a list of your favorite places. Why not turn this database into a travel app?

Many well-known apps are not centered around specific interests, but the ones that always rank in the top three are games. You've probably already downloaded Temple Run, Minecraft to your smartphone. Gaming apps tend to make more money because users are more willing to pay for them, especially if they are very popular among your friends.

Don't be discouraged if you find something similar to your idea when searching through the App Store. Learn to think outside the box. For example, there are several apps that provide information and maps about all the most popular tourist spots in Moscow. But there is an application that provides information about unusual places in the city that not everyone knows about.

Try to come up with an idea that has few competitors. But if you are determined to turn your idea into an app despite the competition, take a look at your competitors and try to figure out what you can do to make your app better than theirs.

Here are some important points Things to consider while you're thinking about your application:

Monetization options

Before you start developing an application, you need to decide how you will make money from it. There are several main ways to monetize applications:

Free application. Commonly used large companies, and the app helps sell their products or services.
Free application with advertising. Used in popular applications that actively interact with the user
Paid application. The most popular and profitable type of monetization. With every sale of yours Apple apps takes a commission of 30%.
Lite and Pro. The Lite app is free, but with a limited set of features. By purchasing Pro you will unlock all functionality
In-app purchases - you can sell new functionality or new game levels directly from the app

Development

Now you have an idea. Great, that's already half the battle! But what now? We assume that you, like most people, have no programming experience. And that's great! There are tons of options.

If you want to take the easy but more expensive route, then check out mobile app developer sites. The AppBooker website allows you to enter your platform, country, and budget, and it will then return a list of developers that meet your needs. Once you select a developer, you can see a list of their clients and the types of applications they specialize in.

A good list of domestic developers can be found here – ratingruneta.

Another option to find a developer is to contact flinaser exchanges. It may even be cheaper, but more risky, since you may encounter an unscrupulous employee.

Here are some questions to ask your future developer:

What is the cost of their work?

Who have they worked for in the past?

Are their applications successful?

Will I have all rights to the application?

Do they have the experience and knowledge to bring your idea to life?

What platforms (IOS, Android, etc.) can they create applications for?

Development cost

As they say, to make money you must first spend it. This is not entirely true when it comes to mobile applications, but we will return to this below. For now, let's assume that you decide to order an application from the developer.

Depending on the type of application you want to make, the price can range from $500 to $100,000. This price may seem very high, but it is worth keeping in mind that the profit from successful application covers expenses several times. In addition, gaming applications are the most expensive to develop and are also bestsellers.

If you already have some work in place (like layout and graphics), you can reduce the price significantly. Another way to reduce costs is to offer the developer a share of the profit from the application.

To find out approximately how much it will cost to develop an application, you can use the howmuchtomakeanapp calculator. It was created by the Canadian company ooomf.com. The resulting price can be safely divided by 2, and you will find out the price of development from us. You can also look at examples of applications they have already created with prices - crew.co.

Placing a ready-made application on the App store will cost you $99.9 per year. Hosting the application on Android Market costs $25.

How to create an application for free

If you do not want to create a game or some kind of application unique in its functions, then you can very well use special online designers mobile applications. Using these sites you can make a simple application for free without any programming knowledge. But if you want something special, you will have to switch to a paid plan.

How much can you earn?

Obviously, the money you make from your app will largely depend on its popularity, and how much you'll make is hard to say.

A study conducted by GigaOM Pro found that more than half of their 352 developers surveyed earned less than $500 per month.

This certainly isn't enough to live off of the app's earnings alone, but it's great if you just want to make a little extra money.

Of course, you can make another hit like Angry Birds that will earn you $100,000 a month!

In order to make good money from your application, read a few tips:

your application should be interesting to a wide audience
explore the most popular apps on the market

Votes: 1153 Average rating: 3.3

Hundreds of millions of devices run Android. The platform is open, so anyone can write their own application and distribute it through program directories. All tools are free and the programming language is very simple. We'll tell you how to write for Android

Android platform

Android is the most popular operating system in the world. Windows has retired after 30 years of dominance, and now Android is the absolute world leader when you consider all devices connected to the Internet: personal computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Some might say that Linux is the world leader because Android runs on Linux kernel, but this is sophistry.

Required Tools

Where to start writing an Android application? First of all, install the Android Studio program. This is the official development environment (IDE) for Android and is released for Windows, macOS And Linux. Although, when developing programs for Android, you can use other environments besides Android Studio.

If you do not have it installed on your computer Android SDK and other components, then Android Studio will automatically download them. Android SDK is a programming environment for Android, it must be installed along with IDE. IN SDK includes libraries, executable files, scripts, documentation, etc.

Useful to install on your computer and emulator Android to then run in it APK applications. The emulator also comes bundled with Android Studio.

Once all the tools are installed, you can create your first project. But first you need to understand the basic concepts: what is an Android application.

What is an Android application?

The standard programming language for Android applications is Java. True, Google is now actively promoting Kotlin like a language that can replace Java. Applications can also be written in C++.

The Android SDK tools compile your code along with any data and resources into APK file (Android package) with extension .apk. This file contains everything needed to install the application on an Android device.

Each Android application lives in its own sandbox, which is subject to Linux security rules:

Each application is individual user on a multi-user Linux system.
By default, the system assigns each application a unique user ID, unknown to the application; the system sets permissions for all application files so that they are only accessible by this user ID.
Each process has its own virtual machine(VM), so that the executing code is isolated from other applications.
By default, each application runs its own Linux process.

There are exceptions to the rules. It is possible to give two applications a common user ID so they can share files with each other. The application may also request permission to access the user's contacts, SMS, storage contents, camera information and other data. But the user must explicitly grant this permission before the program can run normally.

The Android application consists of four components. These are the building blocks of the application. Each component is an entry point through which the system or user can enter the application.

Activity(activity) - an interactive user interface element in an application. Typically, an activity is defined as a group of user interface elements that takes up the entire screen. When you create an interactive Android program, then you start by creating subclasses based on the class Activity. One activity activates another and passes information about what the user intends to do through the class Intent(translated from English as “intention”). It is an abstract description of an operation that one activity must perform when requested by another. If we compare Android applications with web applications, activities are like pages and intents are like links between them. When the user clicks the application icon, the activity is launched Main. However, other places (such as notifications) can send the user directly to other activities.
Service(service) - a universal entry point for keeping the application running in background. This component performs lengthy operations or work in the background for remote processes. Services do not have a visual interface.
Broadcast receiver(broadcast receiver) - a component that allows multiple participants to listen to intentions that are broadcast by applications in the system.
Content Provider(content provider) - a component that manages the general set of application data from file system, a SQLite database, the internet, or any persistent storage that the application can access.

Now let's try to make our own application for Android.

Creating an Android application

How to make a simple Android application? This process consists of several stages: creating a project in Android Studio, running the application in the emulator, creating a simple user interface and adding new activities to the application.

Creating a Project in Android Studio

At the first stage of creating a project, select the name of the application, indicate the domain of your company, the path to the project and the name of the package. Here we indicate whether to enable support for optional programming languages for the project C++ And Kotlin.

Then you need to specify one or more target platforms for the build. For this purpose, SDK and AVD manager are used virtual devices Android. This tool allows you to install packages in the SDK that will support multiple versions of the operating system. Android systems and multiple layers of APIs (application programming interfaces).

You indicate the minimum Android version, which your application will support. The lower the version, the more quantity devices on which the application will run. The higher the version, the richer the API functionality that can be used.

Then select the main activity that will be launched when you click on the application icon.

Specify a name for this activity.

Click the Next button, then Finish - and after a few minutes of assembly, Android Studio opens IDE interface.

If you select the view from the drop-down menu Android, then you can see the main files of your project. For example, our main activity is called app > java > ru.skillbox.skillboxapp > FullscreenActivity, because when creating the project, we specified instead of the Main activity to launch the application in full screen mode (Fullscreen).

Finally, the third important file:app > manifests > AndroidManifest.xml, which describes the fundamental characteristics of the application and defines all its components.

Manifest Contents

package="en.skillbox.skillboxapp">

android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
android:supportsRtl="true"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
android:name=".FullscreenActivity"
android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/FullscreenTheme">

Run on a real device

The application we created is a single activity that runs in full screen mode and does not have any graphical elements. However, this application can already be run on a real Android device or in an emulator. To do this, you need to connect your smartphone or tablet in USB debugging mode, which is activated in "Developer settings" in the menu "Settings".

To launch in the emulator, click the button in Android Studio Run in the menu Run (Shift+F10). There we select the appropriate device and OS version, portrait or landscape (landscape) orientation.

Android Studio will install the emulator and launch it.

Creating a Simple User Interface

It's time to create a basic interface for the home screen. The user interface of an Android application is created through a hierarchy layouts(layouts, objects ViewGroup) And widgets(objects View). Layouts are invisible containers that control the placement of child widgets on the screen. Widgets themselves are directly UI components, such as buttons and text fields on the screen.

The activity interface is mostly stored in XML files. And it is created in Android Studio in the Layout Editor.

Open the file again app > res > layout > activity_fullscreen.xml. In the upper left corner we see Palette with all the widgets that can be added to the screen. They are added simply by dragging the mouse. For example, let's drag a text field onto the screen (PlainText). This is a widget EditText, where the user can enter text.

You can also drag buttons and other elements onto the screen.

New actions, activities and navigation

Let's say we created an activity with a text field and a submit button. After this, you need to write what exactly will happen when you click the “Submit” button. To do this, go to the code app > java > FullscreenActivity and add the method SendMessage() to class FullscreenActivity so that when the user clicks on the button, this method is called.

Then you need to create "intents" (class Intent) to move from one activity to another, new activities, navigation and everything else that is needed for the application. And, of course, figure out how the program will make money (more on this in another article).

Mobile Developer Course

All stages of application development are explained in detail in the course. Participants in this 12-month program will learn how to create applications for Android and iOS. In addition, they will receive a full-fledged developer portfolio and can get a job as a junior programmer or try to participate as an indie developer, that is, an individualist who creates applications himself, distributes them, earns money and does not share income with anyone except tax authorities contributions to the budget.

Many people think that writing their own application for Android smartphones is an extremely difficult task. Many people think that only companies with dozens of developers and designers who spend months creating a product can write commercially successful programs for Android. Of course, if there are large applications, for example games with complex 3D graphics, on which entire teams of specialists work. But there are also many applications that are popular, are in the top on Google Play, and at the same time were created by one person. And such applications bring quite a lot of income to their developer.
IN English There is a term "indie". A single developer writing applications for Android sounds like an “indie android developer”.
Search Google for these words and you will find hundreds of blogs reporting revenue from their apps. And if others were able to write and release their own application, then you can too!
You may know that the famous game Angry Birds, which brings millions to its creators, was made by a small Finnish company that had been unsuccessfully trying to make other games for several years. And the Instagram application and service was made by a couple of Californian guys. The game Cut The Rope with millions of downloads was created by two brothers from Russia. Such examples inspire me.

Myth 1: You need to be fluent in Java to write Android apps.

Of course, basic knowledge of Java is necessary. If you already know any other programming language, then it will be very easy for you to start writing for Android. If your programming knowledge is practically zero, do not despair. Some parts of the application can be done by writing complex code. For this purpose, the Eclipse environment has visual editor interfaces. Using the mouse, dragging buttons, lists, pictures and other elements from the palette, you can create your own application.

Of course, you can’t do without programming at all, because in addition to creating the button itself, you will need to describe the action performed when it is pressed. But then books like this will help you quickly. In addition, if you speak English, then many ready-made pieces program code solving your specific problem can be found on the Stackoverflow forum.

Myth 2. You need to have an Android smartphone

The Android SDK includes an emulator. This is a program that “represents” a phone or tablet on Android based. It runs on regular computer and looks like regular smartphone, only it is controlled not with a finger, but with a mouse and keyboard. In the emulator you can run your application. You can also install different sizes screen, and check how your program will work on various models smartphones. So, for developing Android applications, a phone is not a necessary thing. Your computer will be your Android smartphone.

Myth 3. You need a lot of money

The Eclipse development environment and Android SDK are free. Android programming tutorials and Java tutorials can be found online.
Making your own app may not cost you anything other than your own time and effort.
If you want to publish your application in largest store Google Play ( former Android Market), then you will need $25. But this amount will be more than paid for by the income you receive. I will tell you how to properly present your product on the application market in upcoming posts.

Myth 4. You need to be able to draw/use Photoshop/Corel Draw

The above application may contain only standard controls and text, and no graphics at all. And at the same time used by a million people. Look, for example, at the many Twitter clients or applications in which the main thing is text. All you need is to make an icon for your application.
If you are making a game, then you cannot do without good graphics. If the last time you drew in kindergarten, then it’s better to hire a freelance designer. It can be found on one of the exchanges, for example freelance.ru. Set your requirements on the website and choose a contractor from among the freelancers who responded. As a result, you will get a great design for a reasonable price.

Having dispelled some myths, I summarize my post today: Android application development is interesting and accessible.

This tutorial will teach you the basics of how to write an Android application using the Android Studio development environment. Android devices are becoming more and more common, and the demand for new applications is only increasing all the time. Android Studio is a free, easy-to-use development environment.

For this tutorial, it's best if you have at least a passing knowledge of Java language since this is the language used by Android. There won't be too much code in this tutorial since I'm assuming that you have some knowledge of Java or are ready to find something you don't already know. Creating an application will take 30-60 minutes, depending on how quickly you download and install everything necessary programs. After following this tutorial on how to create your first Android app, you may find yourself a fun new hobby or even start a career as a budding mobile app developer.

Stage 1: Install Android Studio

You need to install the JDK ( Java Development Kit) and JRE (Java Runtime Environment). You can download it from this link. Select the version for your OS there and accept license agreement, download and install.
Now go here http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html and download (be careful, you will have to download about 3 gigabytes).
We start the installation and follow the instructions.

Stage 2: Create a new project

Open Android Studio.
In the menu " Quick Start", select " Start a new Android Studio project».
In the window " Create New Project"(the window that opened), name your project " HelloWorld».
Company name optional.*
Click " Next».
Make sure the checkbox is only on " Phone and Tablet».
If you are planning to test your first application on your phone, then make sure that correct version Android (not older than the one on the phone).
Click " Next».
Select " Blank Activity».
Click " Next».
Leave all other fields as they are.
Click " Finish».

*Typical company name for Android projects is “example.name.here.com”.

Stage 3: Editing the greeting

Go to the tab activity_main.xml, most likely it is already active.
Make sure the tab at the bottom of the screen is active Design(most likely this is true).
Drag the phrase " Hello, World! » from the top left corner of the phone to the center of the screen.
On the left side of the screen there is a folder tree. Open the folder called " values».
In this folder, double click on the file " strings.xml».
In this file, find the line containing the text “ Hello world!" and add to this text " Welcometomyapp! ».
Return to the " activity_main.xml».
Make sure your text is centered on your phone screen and contains the text " Helloworld! Welcometomyapp! ».

Step 4: Add a Button

On the " activity_main.xml" select the tab " Design».
In the column to the left of the window where the phone is located, find a folder called " Widgets" There are various buttons there.
Grab the " Button» and drag it onto your phone screen. It should be centered on the screen right below your text.
Make sure the button is still selected (blue frame around it).
In the lower right corner there is a window with the properties of the selected object. Scroll down and find the line called " text».
Change the text " New Button" to " Next Page».

Stage 5: Create a Second Activity

At the top of the project's file system tree, right-click on the folder called " app».
Select New > Activity > Blank Activity.
In the window that appears, in the top line, enter “ SecondActivity».
Click " Finish».
Go to the " activity_second.xml" and make sure the " tab is selected at the bottom Design».
Move the text from the top left corner of the phone to the center of the screen as we did in the previous steps.
Make sure the text block is still selected (blue frame) and in the lower right corner of the object properties, look for the line " id" and enter there " text2 ».
In the upper left corner (in the project tree) select again double click « strings.xml».
Below the line Hello world! Welcome to my app!
add the following line
Welcome to the second page!
Return to the " activity_second.xml».
Select the text block again.
In the lower right corner of the object properties, find the line “ text" and enter there «@ string/second_page».
Make sure the text box now says " Welcometothesecondpage! ” and the blog is located in the center of the screen.

Stage 6: Write the action for the button

Stage 7: Testing the application

On the toolbar at the top android windows Studio click on the green play symbol.
In the window " ChooseDevice» select the item « Launchemulator» and select the device.
Click on the button OK».
When the emulator starts (this may take long time) the application will automatically open on the virtual device.
Make sure that all text is displayed correctly and that clicking the button takes you to the next page.

Attention: If you receive the message " HAX kernel module is not installed!", then there are two possible options. The fact is that this virtualization is supported only by modern Intel processors and you just need to enable it in the BIOS. If you have a processor that does not support this function, you will have to test the application on real phone or use a third-party emulator rather than the built-in one.

How to get .apk file in Android Studio

In my opinion, this issue is well covered in this article, so I will not repeat it. I found it easiest for the first lesson Manual method.

Once you receive the file, you can copy it to your phone and install the application.

Stage 8: Result

Congratulations! You've just finished writing your first Android app with some basic functionality. The finished application should have a user welcome page and a button that will take the user to the second page.

You have briefly become acquainted with the development of applications for Android and may have awakened in yourself the desire to learn everything that is necessary in order to further develop in this direction.

Do you doubt whether it is worth investing in mobile application development? You can do it yourself and absolutely free. You may end up with a test version that can be used to conveniently evaluate the effectiveness of your mobile strategy. And if you try, you will make a decent mobile application that will become the main tool for online interaction with owners of smartphones and tablets.

Is it worth making your own mobile app?

Costs. If you don't take my word for it, here are some facts:

According to Flurry Analytics and comScore, owners of smartphones and tablets use the browser only 14% of the total time spent working with the device. And they spend 86% of their time on different applications.
Installed application- your direct channel of communication with the consumer. Just think: you don’t need to spend money on advertising or wait for a person to find you using Yandex. It remains to support needed by the user functionality and provide it with relevant content.
The number of purchases made using tablets and smartphones is growing both on the Internet in general and in RuNet. According to marketing agency Criteo, already in 2016, more than half of online transactions in RuNet will be made using mobile devices.

If you want, the application is mobile browser, in which only your site opens. In what case would a user install such an Internet browser? Only if he is interested in your product or information. Therefore, remember: the client who installed the application is a loyal and ready-to-buy representative of the target audience.

In this case, is it worth taking the risk and offering DIY applications to loyal customers rather than custom programs made by professionals for Android and iOS? Let's figure it out.

When can you create an application yourself?

Do you remember what website visitors need? They come because of the content or functionality of the resource. People want to get information, buy something, look at and comment on friends' photos, and so on. Mobile app users need the same. They are looking for information or making some kind of transaction.

Do you remember when a business could make a website on its own? It’s right when you don’t yet have money to collaborate with professionals, but you still have the time and desire to figure out WordPress or Joomla. The same situation is with applications. Self-created programs for iOS and Android can be roughly compared to websites built on open source engines.

You don't have to register to start working. Click the Create Now button on home page or select the Create App menu on the right top corner on any page of the service.

Select the appropriate application template. If we are talking about a content project, you may be interested in the following options:

Manual. This template allows you to create a guide program.
Blog. The application will help your blog audience read new notes from the screen of a smartphone or tablet.
Website. The template converts a website into an application.
Pages. With this template you can convert any content into an application with simple functionality.
News. The template allows you to create an application that is an aggregator of industry or regional news.
Page. The template converts offline content, such as an e-book, into the application.
VK Page and Facebook Page. Create an application that allows you to keep track of updates open groups on VKontakte and Facebook.
YouTube. Use the template to promote your YouTube channel.

How to Create a Blog App

Use the Blog template. In the appropriate field, enter the URL of your blog or RSS feed. Select a note title color.

Enter the name of the application.

Add a description.

Choose a standard one or add a custom icon. Suitable size images - 512 by 512 pixels.

To create boot file Click the Create App button. After this, you need to register in the system. Confirm your registration and go to your personal account. Here you can install the application on your mobile device, publish it on Google Play and Amazon App Store. The system also offers a monetization option. If you use this feature, advertisements will be displayed in the application.

Check how the application works on your mobile device. On a tablet, the program should display a list of blog posts in title and announcement format.

IN personal account With AppsGeyser you can monitor the number of installations, create push notifications, publish the application in stores, monetize the program with advertising, and also edit the application.

Use the editor to add text, images, videos or links. To add a photo to the program, upload it to Imgur hosting and paste the link into the appropriate field.

After editing the content, specify the name of the application, add a description and an icon. Click the Create App button. After creating the download file, install it on your mobile device and check its functionality.

Please note that most mobile devices By default, it blocks the installation of applications from unknown sources. If a user downloads a program from your site or an app builder site, they will see a security warning when they try to install it. Some clients will probably refuse to install the program.

8 constructors similar to AppsGeyser

If the universal AppsGeyser constructor is not suitable for you, pay attention to similar services:

AppsMakerStore. Using the service you can create applications different types: from programs for Ecommerce to solutions for content projects. The designer makes applications for iOS and Android. The service interface is Russified. For beginners, there is an informative guide to using the constructor. The service is paid.

Free designer

Appery. Paid constructor for creating universal applications. You can evaluate its functionality by taking advantage of a free trial period of access.
Good Barber. Using this service you can develop Android and iOS applications. The constructor is paid, the cost of use is 16 USD per month.

Most of the services offered have an English-language interface. If you are uncomfortable working with constructors in English, choose platforms with Russian-language content.

Application designers: a stone ax or a thin modern tool?

Don't go from one extreme to another. With the help of the proposed services, you can really create functional functional applications. The resulting programs can be used to solve different tasks: from enabling online trading to distributing content and educating audiences. Applications created in the designer can be published on Google Play and the App Store, edited, and monetized using advertising or paid installations.

Remember that simply creating an application is not enough. It is necessary to invest a lot of effort in its promotion. Contact us if you want to entrust this work to professionals who know exactly what needs to be done to attract new users.

Do not overestimate the services offered. Their obvious drawback remains their stereotyped nature. We are talking about both the design and functionality of the programs. In addition, access to platforms with decent functionality is paid. What is better: to pay the developers for their work once or to pay the owners of the designer for many years? Do the math for yourself.

And one more thing: if you don’t have time for self-creation mobile application, contact our company. We develop mobile applications and .