Create a Mobile Application with Buzztouch

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Buzztouch allows you to create your own mobile applications for the iPhone and Android. It is a free builder and you can download the source code, so you can submit to the iPphone App Store and the Android Market yourself.

Get Started

Sign up for a free account at http://buzztouch.com. Once you’re signed up and logged in, click the “Create New App” at the top of the screen.

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You’ll be asked to create your application’s name and agree to the Terms of Service and that you understand copyright laws.

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Click “Save” when you’re done. You will receive confirmation that your app has been created:

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Click the “continue configuring this app” link to set up the details of your app. Then you will see a screen with some of your options:

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The green dots indicate steps you have completed and the red ones are steps not completed.

Change the This App’s Icon

We’ll start by clicking “Change this app’s icon.” Choose the image for your icon from your hard drive and then click “Upload”.

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You can crop the part of the image you want. Just drag and drop to choose the parts of the image you want as part of your icon. Click “Save” when you’re done.

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Change This App’s Image

Now, you can choose “Change This App’s Image”. This is the image that will show at the top of your app when someone views it on their phone. Buzztouch recommends a .JPG image that is 320 x 150 pixels for best results.

Choose the image from your hard drive and click “Upload” when you’re done.

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Again, you’ll have the option to crop the area you want to use. Drag the crop tool to where you want it and click “Save” when you’re done.

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Change This App’s Info Screen

Now let’s work on “Change This App’s Info Screen”. When a user taps “Info” on your application, they will be taken to this screen. Provide them with information on how to use the app, why you created the app, etc.

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Click “Save” when you’ve completed all this information. You can come back and add more information later if you think of something else.

Manage This App’s Menus & Screens

When you click “Manage This App’s Menus & Screens” you can really get started on developing your app. You have a lot of options here as you can see below:

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Choose the item you want to add and you’ll be provided with instructions on how to add each of these items. We’ll have a look at a few together.

Add RSS Reader:

This will allow all your blog posts to be updated in the application. Just enter a name for the menu text, screen title and enter your RSS feed location.

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Custom Web Page:

This will pull up a web page on your site and allow your readers to get the latest updates from there. You might use it to feature your deal of the day or other information that updates regularly. Just make sure the page is mobile formatted for easy reading.

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Share by Email / Twitter / Facebook:

There are 3 options for sharing and they work basically the same. Just choose them and enter the required information. The “Share by Email” feature is shown below.

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YouTube Video

You can also add a link to open a YouTube video by entering the information required.

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Add Other Features

Again, there are plenty of other features you can add, but do keep simplicity in mind. You don’t want to overwhelm your users.

Some of the things you can create are:

  • Submenus: to cram in more stuff, if you’d like.
  • Call Us, Email Us
  • Custom Text or HTML
  • Other Streaming Video or Audio
  • Quiz
  • Images, Maps
  • Excel, Word and PDF documents

Download the Source Code

When you’re finished creating your app, you can download the source code. Of course, you can always come back and edit your app features when needed as well.

You need to download your iPhone and Android source code separately.

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NOTE: If you change your app in the control panel later, you do not need to download the source code again. The app will automatically update. The only exception is if you change your app’s icon. Then you will need to download the source code again.

Once you’ve download the source code, follow the instructions to finish your app. The instructions will vary, depending on which type of source code you’ve used.

Overall Thoughts

Buzztouch is a very user-friendly and easy-to-use site to create mobile applications. It does require some tech-savvy to use and submit the source code, unlike BuildAnApp that takes care of this process for you (for a fee to submit to the iPhone App Store and Android Market).