Re: Confused about white label apps

TradeSpeedUK_Lt · 10-19-2019 03:30 AM

Hi,

I have been reading, honestly, and I still can’t quite pin down the answer to what I want to know…

I want to develop an app for use by a company which allows a member of the company to clock-in when they arrive at the given location. And then clock-out.

This app could be used by 100+ people, and the people that will use it may change over time. I don;t want to have to add new users, send out invites (and pay $5 or $10 per user per month etc.).
I need this to be a white label app, in that I want the end users to download it from the app store.

I have read answers on this forum, but there are so many plans mentioned, several of which I can’t actually find in your pricing structure, that I am at a loss.

So, how much will it cost, either initially, or ongoing, to have an app where it is downloadable from the App Store, and the users can see unformation relevant to them (maybe using filters etc), and be able to clock in and out?

Thanks

TS

WillowMobileSys

There has been a plan/pricing change that was announced last Dec. So things changed since then. That may be what is adding to the confusion.

The only way to avoid a per user cost is to use a Publisher Pro plan (except for personal apps). This is a PUBLIC app that requires no sign-in and is expected to have no sensitive information - something like a town information app or an event information app. And you will not have access to advanced features.

The Publisher Pro plan is a flat $50/month. You can find out more by clicking on the link below for the pricing page and then scrolling down to just beneath the table where it says “Need Public Apps?”.

TradeSpeedUK_Lt

Thank you.

That’s going to be prohibitive, I think. For two reasons… they want to use the app to schedule time-slots for people, and to allow them to sign in. In that case it would have information stored about names and ages of people, including children, and where they are going to be at any given time. Clearly that can’t be public domain…

Secondly, they are not a profit making business, and paying out that price per month is not going to work.

Is that the only way? I know for a fact that someone in my hometown built an app, put it on the app-store, and it was used by hundreds of people… no way is he paying $50 per month even now, when the app was only needed for one month earlier this year…the app is still active.

Is there anything available for charitable apps, or some such?

Grant_Stead

sales@appsheet.com
They usually are pretty friendly with non profits.

WillowMobileSys

@TradeSpeedUK_Ltd As Grant said AppSheet does provide discounted pricing for non-profits. I built an app for a 4-H Robotics club and was provided a hefty discount for the team to use it. But it still was not Free.

And I agree, there are other methods to build mobile apps and deploy to the stores for people to download. I have built apps in Swift and deployed to the App Store.

There is a HUGE learning curve to building those “native” mobile apps in the first place and then to getting it deployed onto the store. And you only support one device type - iOS or Android. If you want to support the other platform, you have to do it all a second time. Imagine also wanting a desktop version?

Once you do know how to build native mobile apps, you can get away and build and deploy them mostly free. There still is a developers license to pay and maybe build tools to buy.

TradeSpeedUK_Lt

Can I just ask… as this may be something that would obviate the need for a white label app… if I have an app with a single user, say the manager. That app can send notifications to mobile numbers that are attached to customer records in the app? And they are not extra users?

Or we can email customers email addresses using a workflow, and that means we don’t need them to see a schedule in an app, just read it in a pdf or notification?

WillowMobileSys

AppSheet apps are free for the creator (e.e. yourself). If you deploy the app and invite a single user, then you would be billed for that single user license.

Concerning notifications, there are two ways -

Push Notifications - those message you get on your home screen that a delivery has been made.
SMS messages (texts).

Sending SMS messages does not require the recipient to be licensed users.

However, Push Notifications definitely need something of AppSheet installed. I am not yet clear if they only need the AppSheet container from the store to get the messages.

For emails, again the recipient does not need to be a license user. But when you start using the advanced features such as Workflows, it will require the higher level plan for those licensed users sending the emails.

TradeSpeedUK_Lt

Yeah, the email thing… the recipient doesn’t cost anything, and doesn’t need any appsheet.
The single user, besides me as the developer, would basically use a single workflow to send to all the recipients with a given data value somewhere.
What package would be needed for this? The annoying thing is, it doesn’t mention using workflows in the pricing structure… it mentions emails, but is that what this is? It mentions WEBHOOK workflows, but that’s a different beast althogether.

So, if I am to use a single workflow to send some emails out to people who are NOT users of the app… what is that gonna cost me.

Cheers

WillowMobileSys

Ah yes. Emails and Push Notifications are in the lower tier plan. While Webhooks and DATA CHANGE workflows are in the higher tier.

You can likely get away with the Premium plan.

There is a way to tell what your app requires with certainty. Under the Mange menu Author tab, there is a Plan Requirements section. It has an analyzer that will tell, based on certain functions implemented in your app, what plans your app qualifies for. Below is an example from an app I am currently building.

Grant_Stead

There’s lots of ways to get it done.