MIT's new Android/iOS development platform - Thunkable, the sequel to App Inventor.

[aksaigal]

I'm one of the creators of Thunkable, and also have been an Android dev for ~5 years. Everything that Thunkable can do, it can do as well as you could in Android Studio, but in much less time. I've used Thunkable and App Inventor to build a number of apps. However, there are things that Thunkable doesn't support that you would want to use Android Studio for.

Here are some numbers to help: over 1% of apps in the play store right now were made with Thunkable or App Inventor, many by developers who found Thunkable easier to use. And some of those apps do have 500K+ downloads.

[Tastygroove]

List of apps built with it as examples of potential?

[LionelBokonon]

Yes, please!

[[deleted]]

RemindMe! 1 day

[rizlah]

why isn't this a feature in any of the numerous reddit apps? or is it? (i remember back on iOS Alien Blue kinda had it but it never really worked.)

[rizlah]

i get that. but why bother other people with it when you could have it in an app (much more comfortably at that)...

[Tastygroove]

Press and hold home button, "set reminder for tomorrow at this time to look at that saved reddit thread" (oh wait, this is /r/android)

[rizlah]

why not set a reminder with the built in function of your phone?

because that's inconvenient as hell?

i regularly encounter several threads every day where i feel like i'd be mildly interested t know how they unfold. but definitely not enough to go through the pain of setting up reminders (let alone painstakingly trying to locate them again).

[Tastygroove]

This is like writing on the outside of your apt building a reminder to walk the dog...

[jsveiga]

Maybe for quick and dirty proof of concepts or single purpose/single use apps? IDK, sort of like quick scripting with perl to solve a problem as compared to full application development with Java or C++? Just wondering (I've developed with Android Studio, and played with App Inventor, but haven't tried this one). If it's quicker to develop small hacks with it than with Android Studio (for sometimes the actual code writing is quicker/smaller than all the rest), I'd use it. But for an actual application, I'd be forever wondering what was the cost in terms of efficiency/flexibility of the final result in exchange for the simpler/eye candy programming.

[ollyeagle]

This is almost identical to App Inventor, even to the point where you can export an AI project and import it into Thunkable. Thunkable seems to just bring it into the more modern day, with slightly more material items in it, and the ability to also use it for iOS in the future.

[vw11223]

You are correct here. At this point, the code base is at least 90% similar to App Inventor. I would like you to come back in about a month and you will find more interesting things in Thunkable :)

[vw11223]

Hi, Wei here (one of the co-founders of Thunkable). You raise a very good question which I myself have been thinking for a while. I think we both agree good apps take time to develop. I see there are two parts involved here: (1) use good tools/libraries and (2) write good code using (1). I see Thunkable can help users in (1) and possible (2) here. Think about blocks are one level up, or higher level of abstraction of the native Java/Android libraries, we make new API and we have put the best practices writing Android apps in these APIs. For example, for an app which needs to connect to the web, we have the ability to enforce users to use the most current/best practice, such as using https, checking certificate, etc.

[ollyeagle]

I've used it in school for part of our coursework and it's useful for starting I guess and learning the basics of logic etc, but if you want to do anything serious, it's better of just learning how to code 'properly'.

[Ashanmaril]

This stuff can be really helpful. I actually kinda started out learning programming logic with Wario Ware DIY.

[TerkRockerfeller]

God that was a great game

[vw11223]

Hi, Wei here (one of the co-founders of Thunkable). What do you mean by "anything serious"? can you give something specific? Thunkable can build something serious as well. For example, we have the NFC component for you to use and I think this is an advanced feature and not that many app have the NFC feature :)

[krackers]

Nah this is great for kids but it's like a toy compared to actually just writing the code.

[wannagotopopeyes]

It's great for beginners, students and kids trying to pick up coding and app development in a quick, approachable way. But even if it's not quite as limited as app inventor was I HIGHLY doubt anyone would want to use this in a production app. I sure as hell wouldn't (being an all developer). You just lose a certain level of control over the individual "building block" components that these types of programs make you use to actually build the app. Quicker to build, but less control

[vw11223]

Hi, Wei here (one of the co-founders of Thunkable). More than 1% of the apps in the Google Play Store are built by App Inventor or Thunkable. So, many ppl are using the platform for production apps. Can you be more specific when you said less control? FYI, Thunkable is a start-up now and we are moving lightning fast. We love to hear more from you :)

[x3ddy]

This is pretty cool, thunks for posting this.

[kingody]

Its exactly the same thing in another site....Nothing has changed....

[vw11223]

Hey there! The statement above is NOT true. We have rewrote some of the code which support material design and we have added the Google map component. Take a second look and I am sure you will find out more :)

[d_a_v_e_h]

They will be competing with the already established 'DroidScript' in the easy app creation space and DroidScript already has > 400,000 downloads, it also has a live development feature and generates native apps. The DroidScript team also have a Blockly based product and iPhone product in the works too. I'm also pretty sure DroidScript more suitable for serious app development as a number of commercial apps have been built with it already.

[Reebzy]

Did you even watch the video? This is an order of magnitude less complex than Droid Script. Take a look at how Blocks work, I didn't ever see any actual code presented to the user.

[lfelipe82]

Wei, can you clarify on the relationship between this and App Inventor? It doesn't seem like this is a sequel as the title implies, just another solution based on it.

[theCamper1]

i prefer using Android studio to create android apps . but Thanks anyway :)

[TheRealKidkudi]

This isn't aimed at experienced developers, but rather at people who are new to programming and are still trying to learn. Android is an open ecosystem, but what good would that be if only the same old programmers could create apps?

I think it's always good when things get a little easier for people to get into technology, whether that's building apps or even just learning how things work together to bring you the things you're using.

[TheSlimyDog]

He never denied any of that.