In this Jotform App Builder review, we’re looking at one of the most convenient and highly rated tools on the market for app creation. The Jotform App Builder is brimming with incredible functionality, designed to help even non-coders create amazing apps.
As the market for mobile commerce continues to grow, and the world doubles down on digital transformation, designing an app of your own could be a lucrative prospect. The global app market is expected to reach a value of at least $407.31 billion by 2026.
Unfortunately, up until now, creating an app often required significant knowledge of the programming space, a team of dedicated professionals, and a reasonable budget. This prevented a large number of companies from joining the app marketplace.
Jotform App Builder could be the solution, allowing companies to deploy tablet, mobile, and desktop apps without even a single line of code.
Jotform App Builder Review: An Introduction
Jotform is one of the better-known online form builders in the world today. The company focused primarily on helping businesses to create important forms for collecting online data. This included forms for subscriptions, booking forms, and even ecommerce payment forms.
Jotform announced the release of “Jotform Apps” in 2022, as a way to give users access to a wider range of flexible tools. According to the Apps release blog, Jotform Apps is designed to benefit industries across the board, from small business and education, to healthcare, food and beverages, and even the service industry.
Jotform Apps promises features like:
- Form bundling: Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a dedicated solution for bundling forms into your app environment. You don’t have to search for and send individual forms via links or emails. Instead, you can keep everything in one place.
- No code or fees: You don’t need any coding knowledge, thanks to a drag-and-drop builder and a range of convenient pre-built templates. There are also no fees required for certain apps, so you can get started with minimal budget.
- Resource hub: Forms and form elements are available through the app, so everyone can access the same forms and assets shared by the app owner.
- Flexibility: The apps created with the Jotform App Builder work on tablets, mobile devices, and the web. You can design iOS and Android apps in no time.
- Scalable: App updates take place in real time, with no need for any reinstalls or rebuilds. Accessing content on a mobile device is straightforward too.
Jotform App Builder Review: Ease of Use
Perhaps the most significant selling point of the Jotform App Builder is its simplicity. Just like the form creation tools from Jotform, the App Builder keeps things as straightforward as possible. There’s no coding required, and you can design apps in seconds.
First, there are more than 300 app templates available, which means you don’t have to start from scratch with your design. To get started, simply enter the “My Forms” screen on your Jotform account, and click “Create an App” in the “Publish” section.
This takes you straight to the App Builder, where you can automatically add the selected form to your new app.
You can also create an app by clicking the “My Apps” button in the top toolbar on the home screen. Alternatively, simply visit the form builder interface from one of your existing forms, and click on the “Publish” tab. You’ll even be able to visit the App Builder home page, where you can create your new app, share, edit, or rename a current app, and view your creation on a mobile device.
The app builder works similarly to the standard Jotform “Form Builder”. On the left side of the Build tab, you’ll find the “Add Element” option, where you can find various elements for your apps, like forms, headings, images, and documents.
There are “Widgets” which allow you to add customized functionality to your app, such as social media connectivity, videos, code embedding, and streaming services.
Jotform App Builder Review: App Functionality
The “Build” tab is where you’ll do the majority of your work with the Jotform App Builder. In the “Basic” tab, there’s access to 5 featured widgets and 12 elements. You can simply drag and drop whatever you need into your app. Your options include:
- Forms: Form elements automatically open your list of forms, so you can add one or multiple forms at the same time. You can adjust the properties of each form, as well as the form labels, styles, and whether or not the form is “required” to move to the next stage in the app.
- Headings and Paragraphs: If you need to add text content to your apps, you can create custom app headers and paragraphs stylized with a rich text editor. There’s also the option to add links to specific web pages or emails. Alternatively, you can add documents in various formats to your apps.
- Images and Buttons: You’ll be able to add image files directly from your Image Library, or from your computer. There are also buttons which allow you to set up interactive elements, like making a call, sending an email, visiting an URL or opening a form.
- Image sliders and videos: Image sliders allow you to set up carousels of images with specific transition and play effects. There’s also a video widget, with the option to adjust your video content however you choose.
- Maps and social: If you want to make your app feel more local, you can add maps from Google directly into your app design. There are also social follow buttons available, and the option to share testimonials from customers.
JotForm also allows users to add specific data elements to their apps, like tables and reporting functions. For instance, you could use the Report builder to provide instant visual insights into the performance of your company or team.
One particularly useful feature is the “Sentbox” function, which shows authorized app users previous submissions to specific forms within the app.
Jotform App Builder Review: App Designer
The app designer provides complete control over not just the functionality of your app, but what it looks like too. Clicking the paint roller icon on the right of the screen will give you a list of 9 color schemes to choose from as standard, as well as the option to customize header sections, background colors, and images.
The “App Layouts” section of the designer gives you a variety of templates and app alignment options to choose from. There’s also a “Settings” tab, where you can set front and backend options to help build better experiences for customers.
You’ll also be able to change various additional elements of your apps, such as:
- Status: In general, your app’s status will default automatically to “enabled”, but you can disable the app or set it to be available on a certain date.
- App name and icon: Adjust how the app appears when installed on user devices.
- Splash screen: Change the appearance of the app when it’s opened and loading.
Jotform App Builder Review: Publishing
Publishing is relatively straightforward too. From the Publish tab in your app builder, you can share your creation via email, QR code downloads, or by embedding it into a web page. You’ll also have full control over the accessibility of your app. You can make the creation public for everyone to use, or require a login/signup page.
If you’re creating a business app for users in your team, you can set up “Company Access” which requires logging in or signing up through SSO (Single sign-on), or an organizational email domain. There’s also an option to create a dedicated company portal.
When you’re ready to officially publish, the “App Preview” page will allow you to see exactly what your app is going to look like on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. There are portrait and landscape orientation modes for mobile devices.
Jotform App Builder: Ecommerce
Perhaps one of the most compelling features of the Jotform App Builder, is the option to create Ecommerce stores and experiences from scratch – with no coding. As mentioned above, there are hundreds of templates available to get you started, created by JotForm’s dedicated designers.
This means you can find pre-built templates for a range of business types, including dog grooming apps, project tracking apps, beauty appointment apps, and more. The Jotform app templates for online stores are just as attractive and convenient as any other template.
As with the standard app building solutions, you can drag and drop your products and other functionality into place, add your own branding, and adjust different form elements. There are even dedicated clothing store apps.
The Jotform Ecommerce app builder includes:
- Flexibility: You can share your ecommerce app experience with customers anywhere, allowing them to take your store wherever they go. Share links on social media or your website, or download QR codes for your customers.
- Data management: Running an online store comes with a lot of data to track. You’ll be able to bundle multiple forms, so you can easily store, share, and manage all of the data you need to collect about customers as safely as possible.
- Payments: Jotform comes with access to a seamless checkout solution for every ecommerce app. You can add secure payment forms which work with more than 30 trusted payment gateways, including PayPal, Square, and Stripe. You can also accept major debit and credit cards, and alternative payment methods like recurring subscription payments, Google Pay or Apple Pay.
The Ecommerce app builder requires no coding, and there are video tutorials and guidance available on the Jotform site to help you get started. As with all apps, you’ll also be able to choose from a range of widgets to add features like social buttons, timers, and videos to your app. Each item comes with a tab where you can adjust element settings.
Jotform App Builder Review: Pricing
Crucially, while you can build a handful of apps in Jotform for free, they will be limited in their functionality. If you want to take your mobile apps to the next level, you’ll need to pay for your no code app builder. The free package comes with support for up to 5 forms, 100 monthly submissions, and 100mb of space, with 1,000 form views and 10 payment submissions.
The premium packages for your no-code app creation include:
- Bronze: $24 per month for up to 25 forms, 1,000 monthly submissions, 1GB of space, 10,000 form views, 100 monthly payment submissions, and 250 fields per form.
- Silver: $29 per month for up to 50 forms, 2,500 submissions, 100,000 views per month, and 25,000 submissions. You’ll also be able to support 250 payment submissions, and access 10GB of space, along with HIPAA compliance.
- Gold: $79 per month for up to 100 forms, 10,000 submissions, 1 million form views, 100GB of space, HIPAA compliance, 1,000 fields per form, and 1,000 payment submissions.
An Enterprise package is also available for unlimited everything for your entire workflow, as well as service level agreements, white labelling, custom domains, real-time support, SSO integrations, and local data residency. Plus, more API control for app elements.
You’ll be able to remove all Jotform branding from your app elements with a paid package too. If you’re in the educational sector, or you’re a non-profit, you can get 50% off your drag and drop app builder with your subscription.
Jotform Apps Review: Customer Support
Jotform makes it easier to create all kinds of apps with unique fonts, images, and designs, and share them with customers through everything from an app link to QR code. You shouldn’t have too much trouble using Jotform.com yourself, as there’s no real need for knowledge of HTML and other coding languages. However, if you do need help, a contact form is available.
An API page is available if you need help managing integrations with your own app, and an FAQ page if you’re having issues, you can fix yourself. There’s also priority support available if you’re willing to pay for a higher package.
Jotform Apps Review: Verdict
If you want to create an excellent app with minimal effort, Jotform could be the solution for you. The system is very easy to use, and there are lots of customization options available. You can even run your own store entirely from Jotform.
The biggest downside is how limited the free package is. You will need to consider upgrading if you want to remove the Jotform branding and gain more functionality. However, it could be worth paying extra in some cases.
Our advice is to give the free features a try first, and see what you think before you upgrade to a paid subscription.
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