Google announced that it is killing another one of its services, App Maker, G-Suite’s low-code environment for building custom business apps. Google said that it would eventually ‘turn down’ its App Maker this year, and it will be permanently closed on January 19, 2021. Google cited ‘low usage’ as an explanation for this move. If your business was using App Maker or is dependent on it, then you need to start considering other options.

Google has made this announcement not even 2 weeks post acquiring no-code app development platform AppSheet.

Google launched App Maker as a part of the Early Adopter Program in November 2016. Back at that time, it was described as a service that ‘lets users drag and drop widgets around on a user interface that complies with Google’s Material Design principles’ to create apps that can be ‘customized further with scripts, as well as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery content.’

Schedule for App Maker’s Demise

Google laid out a plan for App Maker’s demise as follows:

1. As of January 28, 2020, existing Apps created with the tool will continue to work. Even though App Maker is no longer actively developed, the service will be maintained.

2. Starting in April 2020, customers will no longer be able to create new Apps with the App Maker. However, they will still be able to modify and deploy existing apps.

3. Starting January 19, 2021, the existing App Maker apps will cease to work, and customers will no longer be able to access them. Data stored in Cloud SQL will remain unchanged and will follow the policies outlined in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account.

Organizations that have used App Maker, but no longer need the apps created, must consider doing the following:

1. Export the app before deleting it to save information back up in the database

2. Delete the App created within App Maker

3. Delete the associated cloud project

For enterprises that will be seeking alternate solutions, Google suggests the following:

1. If enterprises are using App Maker to develop Apps: Use App Engine instead to build and deploy applications on a fully managed platform. App maker data is stored in Cloud SQL, and App Sheets supports Cloud SQL Databases allowing you to create an App Engine application on the existing Cloud SQL database tied to your App Maker.

2. If App Maker is being used to automate business processes: Use AppSheet, a new addition to Google’s application development portfolio with similar capabilities to App Maker, App Maker data is stored in Cloud SQL, and App Sheet supports Cloud SQL databases. This lets you build an App with the existing database.

3. If App Maker is used for data collection: Use Google form that has many features.