Drag-and-drop mobile app builder: What you need to know? 

Building a mobile app a few years earlier would require a lot of investment, resources, and high-level expertise. So much so that it was almost impossible for small businesses to try their hands on mobile app development.

But things are changing for the better now.

With the rise of the low code drag-and-drop builder, business owners, and even internal users have the chance to envision and create internal tools or custom business apps exactly the way they want, reducing the humongous need for money and IT resources.

Having said that, a low code drag-and-drop app builder is also as exciting to professional developers as any other traditional tool. It gives them the freedom to code and focus on delivering the most user-friendly interface but at an accelerated pace. 

Keep on reading as we discuss why and how you should drag-and-drop mobile app builders to expedite your business processes.

Why use drag-and-drop for mobile app development?

Drag-and-drop mobile app builders enable users to configure event handlers that tell the system and the user the next course of action. For example, when a user submits an onboarding application, the app can validate the response, run a logical expression, and branch depending on the output to update the HR and show a successful pop-up.

Here is how using and drag-and-drop builder can make application building fun and seamless-

Expedited development

Research by 451 says that using low-code development (which features drag-and-drop builder as one of the primary functions), can decrease development time by up to 50%-90%. This means mobile app development occurs in shorter release cycles. This is especially helpful while prototyping, as you can test and make changes on the go without having to wait for professional developers to show up.

Whether you are building an inventory management app or an admin panel, prototyping with a  drag-and-drop builder helps you eliminate the need of spending too much time and development resources on an app or feature you are unsure of. Building an app from scratch may require immense investment. From hosting, and UI maintenance to security, you have to take care of everything. But with a low code drag-and-drop builder, you can focus only on assembling elements and leave everything else to the platform.

Democratic application development

Most business users have minimal programming knowledge, so they don’t know how to code an entire application from the basics. However, they hold expertise in facilitating and enhancing business processes. The simple and easy-to-use arrangement of drag-and-drop builders democratizes the application-building process by making it accessible to developers with varying degrees of technical knowledge.

Whether you are an internal business user, subject matter expert, or a citizen developer, a good drag-and-drop mobile app builder drastically reduces the learning curve enabling you to build composite applications by assembling  UI components. You can simply choose from a range of pre-built components to build workflows and integrate them with existing processes.

Testing and deployment

Mobile app stores have a particular testing period. Sometimes it may take longer than you can imagine to approve a new version of a mobile application. Since it takes so long to deploy fixed code within a live server or app store, it only makes sense to use a tool like low code to speed up the process of each iteration. Thanks to drag-and-drop mobile app builder, you can build a full-feature mobile application and deploy it within days to weeks. 

With traditional development and deployment, you are bound to stumble upon specific bugs and mishaps during the launch date. However, when you use a drag-and-drop builder, all changes can be reverted and modified to a stable version with a single click.

Prebuilt UI controls

Low code offers a variety of pre-built UI elements such as forms, tables, lists, map views, buttons, etc. on the screen. These builders significantly minimize the time it takes to build apps by replacing repeating lines of code with ready-to-use building blocks just like React UI component libraries or Angular components libraries. But their speed is not solely a factor of pre-built elements. While there is a wealth of different drag-and-drop builders to choose from, there are some stellar app builders that give a highly intuitive user interface that makes the app development process a whole lot easier and faster.

Enhanced user experience

Low code platforms come with a varied range of built-in styles, screen templates and layouts, components, widgets, logic, and UI patterns that are specially designed and tested to make development effortless and intuitive. It gives you the power to create innovative features and updates due to its cross-platform functionality and single-click deployments. The best part is they can be deployed and work across a range of devices like tables, desktops, and mobiles. 

Why are drag-and-drop mobile app builders popular? – decoding in numbers

According to DronaHQ’s survey the pulse of digital transformation, while it takes anywhere from 2-6 months for over 30% of the respondents to build apps traditionally, 50% of respondents take about 15 days to 2 months to build apps like business process management, productivity apps, operational efficiency and customer engagement apps using a no-code or low-code drag-and-drop app builders.

According to GlobalNewsWire, the market size of drag-and-drop builder software in 2019 is $790, and the market size is projected to expand nearly 1.5 times, reaching a higher peak at $1,128 million in 2027.

The reason for this exceeding popularity can be attributed to the fact that drag-and-drop builders are easy-to-use, affordable, and feature-rich in contrast to the complex and lengthy cycles of traditional development. Both large enterprises, as well as SMEs, are starting to use mobile applications to make businesses more connected to their customers. These drag-and-drop app builders are great for people who need a helping hand to get their vision off the ground and into the hands of their stakeholders in the shortest duration.

Drag-and-drop mobile app use cases

You can build a variety of mobile apps with a drag-and-drop builder to suit your specific business needs. Here are some examples-

Visitor Management

Visitor management refers to any process that helps an organization keep track of the people that visit their location. Apart from keeping a record of check-ins and registering guests, organizations have built self-service kiosks for employee or contractor onboarding, building access registration, etc. 

Warehouse management

Warehouses are one of the most hectic workspaces. There are too many people working at the same time with a lot of functions going on simultaneously. Given its chaotic nature, a warehouse management mobile app can help in organizing the distribution center such as streamlining the shipping process to help the warehouse staff do their job more efficiently.

Sports gig management

Low code platforms like DronaHQ have helped a sports firm operate its entire customer-facing operations seamlessly over a mobile app. This has helped eliminate external parties in the referee hiring process.

How is DronaHQ different from all the other drag-and-drop app builders?

DronaHQ is a low-code app development platform that offers one of the best drag-and-drop experiences for not only mobile but web apps as well. Our customers have used it to build internal tools, web portals, admin panels, CRUD apps, forms, and custom apps. 

With over a decade of experience, DronaHQ makes it possible to drag-and-drop UI controls (just like a react UI component library or a drag-drop angular builder) and connect them to anything with a REST, GraphQL API. This means users can build a full-featured tool on top of their Postgres database, MongoDB, MySQL, or any other source of data in just a few hours.

Here is why choosing DronaHQ is a smart option for you-

Offline submission

Stuck with a limited internet network? We are here to help. DronaHQ allows users to capture data, run API calls or fire DB queries anywhere as and when the need arises.

Push notification

Make sure no one misses an update by triggering push notifications for different actions like approvals, new form entries, database row edits, etc.

Permissions & audit logs

Ensure data safety with multiple layers of permissions for admins, makers, and end users with audit logs to monitor app events.

Native UI Controls

Enrich your mobile app with  150+ intuitive UI controls like file upload, QR scanner, barcode, geolocation, image compressor, GPS, signature, and more.

Deploy branded apps

Build white-labeled apps, that once published, are instantly accessible over the Play Store or the AppStore without grinding through the painful app review process.

Embeddable apps

Embed your custom-built apps into other applications, web pages, and even portals to extend the reach and accessibility of your services.

The advent of drag-and-drop mobile app builders, such as DronaHQ, has transformed the app development landscape. These builders offer numerous benefits, including expedited development cycles, democratized application development, simplified testing and deployment, prebuilt UI controls, and enhanced user experience. The popularity of drag-and-drop builders is on the rise due to their ease of use, affordability, and feature-rich nature. DronaHQ stands out among other app builders, offering a seamless drag-and-drop experience for mobile and web apps, offline submission capabilities, push notifications, permissions and audit logs, native UI controls, branded app deployment, and embeddable apps. Embrace the power of DronaHQ’s low-code platform and embark on your app development journey today. Sign up now to unlock endless possibilities!

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