Concerns about AppSheet future

[SkrOYC]

I was taking a look at @pravse's post when AppSheet was adquired by Google.

I saw a lot of possitivism there and started to wonder about something.

Can we expect that AppSheet will be a product just available under Google Workspace in the future?

I have specified a lot in the pass that I'm not a Google user and this terrifies me.

Seriously, can we expect a move like this one? Because it would be VERY bad for me to keep investing on a platform and then have to move on just a couple of days because of decisions like this.

We have seen that a lot of us feel that the team incharge of AppSheet is not the same, or at least doesn't give it's customers the same feeling that it gave before. I'm genuinely worried about AppSheet future. It feels more bureaucratic and less customer-focused than before.

Just take a look at this community platform, the half baked features on preview that seem abandoned -except AppScript, that one made a record, because was on Google's interest-, and backend mistakes like the detail view shrinked, the fontsize on enum/-list, mockups that shows delayed features -desktop mode- and more.

I'm worried, I can't say more

[Martina_Hawkins]

I agree @SkrOYC . I share your worries. No other Software Sales just ignores you.  You usually get hounded by sales people from other software vendors for showing any interest. Spending 1000's of dollars on Appsheet each month for very poor service. I have ongoing technical issues for months.  I finally now have a software engineer online taking the issue seriously.  Its 9:40PM here but I'd do anything to get these issues resolved.  

I really don't want to move away from Appsheet but have looked briefly at other solutions in case I really have to move. Looked at PowerApps and Caspio. Caspio seems really good from initial research.  Anyone else looked at this?

[SkrOYC]

Looks good, although 20 "DataPages" on Explore pricing seems like a low number, I have around 100 views on one app on AppSheet.

I already played with:

• GlideApps (way better ui, recently they updated they pricing, more similar to AppSheet now, although low rows and updates to data and webhooks depend on third party tools)
• Buble.io (very customizable)
• Honeycode (too beta)
• AppGyver looks good
• FlutterFlow (I know about this one because of flutter.dev, which is a code framework)

[Hani_Ibrahim]

I wil try glide to see its cabablaities. Thank you

[Martina_Hawkins]

Thanks @SkrOYC , will look at these.

[Rifad]

Honeycode is discontinued. The way currently appsheet being managed looks a bit scary as a user. Concerned about future of appsheet due to the inability of many members in the team. Ofcourse agreeing there are amazing people working out there in the team. And there are amazing improvements. But as a user we feel the team lacks a lot of things after Google acquired. And I am bit concerned again seeing other platforms discontinuing products as a part of cost cutting.

All I could request current appsheet team is to work bit harder that google does not decide appsheet to be a part of ‘Killed by Google’

[SkrOYC]

I know, I also saw that yesterday by email

To be honest, Honeycode looked like a good try but with limited features and poor docs, which is different from what AppSheet has been.

But I also think that we have no clear idea of where things are going most of the time, it's like they did some kind of contest inside Google to "who can make the best improvement inside AppSheet" and sudenly we started seeing AppSheet Databases, Quick Sync, Chat Apps, AppSheet Desktop and more which are good things but are still a little bit farther than expected from an stable feature and just feels like a one-man effort trying to impress their boss or something.

We need a clearer picture of where things are going

[takuya_miyai]

@SkrOYC @Martina_Hawkins 
I do Business much closer to Workspace than you guys, but I still agree with what you are saying.

I hear words like "customer voice" and "use case" from AppSheet, but I am becoming more skeptical of those words every day.
If AppSheet really wants to know "user's voice" and "use cases," I think it is necessary to examine Feature Ideas first and foremost to understand the needs behind them.
For me, feature ideas are like a treasure chest.
But for Google, it seems to be just a category they have prepared.
When we submit ours based on actual customer feedback, it simply becomes Open and stays that way.

[Amine]

I totally agree with you about the feature ideas. Based on the attached picture, I believe they have not looked at them.

[Steve]

Yes! The entire section should be removed.

@AndrewB @peterdykstra @Arthur_Rallu 

[ThisIsIdrees]

I've just got this email. So I am really scared about appsheet's future.

 

[SkrOYC]

Google Graveyard - Killed by Google

[zito]

Hi folks,

I wanted to quickly chime in here -speaking for myself, I'm a loyal and devoted Google Podcast user,  and when I got the internal email announcing the turndown of Google Podcasts, I was as disappointed as everyone else.  I haven't decided yet what I'm going to move to, but I'm not thrilled about having to make that move.

That being said, I will highlight a few things that are fundamentally different about AppSheet and Google Cloud compared to the rest of Google:

• AppSheet directly generates revenue - while I have no inside knowledge of the decision process around Google Podcasts, it's not difficult to imagine that Google Podcasts cost money to develop and maintain and was not generating revenue directly, so it was decided that it would be better to bring those users to YT Music (which does generate revenue through ads and subscriptions).    AppSheet, by contrast, directly generates revenue from both self-service and enterprise subscriptions, which already puts us in a better situation than something consumer-oriented.
• AppSheet has enterprise commitments - We have a number of enterprise relationships with some of the largest companies in the world, and that creates an obligation to continue to maintain and develop AppSheet.  As a practical matter, too, most of those large companies have significant investments in Google Cloud, so anything that negatively impacts their relationship with Google Cloud is seen as undesirable.
• Google Cloud has stability and deprecation commitments - you can read more about this here.  While the policy as written applies to APIs specifically, it is generally interpreted as applying to Cloud products more broadly.  Essentially, we can't count on enterprises to trust Cloud if we can deprecate services and capabilities the same way that the consumer side of Google does.

On top of the above, AppSheet has been invested in over the past few years, and our presence at major events like I/O and Cloud Next helps demonstrate (in my opinion). that AppSheet is seen as a strategic area of investment for Google Cloud.  While I can't predict the future, I think separating Google Cloud from the rest of Google is an important detail when thinking about the future of something like AppSheet.

Thanks,

Matt