From the people building Glassly
Notes
Short pieces about making apps without writing code. No growth-hack sludge, promise.
Latest · 5 September 2026 · 5 min read
Turn your website into an app? Two different things, and which one you want
5 September 2026 · 5 min read
An app for your wedding, your family, or your kids
The wedding weekend, the family that outgrew the group chat, the child who needs a routine. Which free template fits each, and why installing from a link matters here.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 5 min read
An app for your charity or nonprofit, without a grant application
Announcements people read, events people turn up to, volunteers who know what is on. Which free template fits, what it costs, and the one thing the app will not do.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 5 min read
Do I own the source code? Yes. Here is exactly what you get.
You own the app, and you can download the complete project any time, free. What is in the zip, what is deliberately not, and how to run it without us.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 6 min read
How much does it cost to build an app in 2026?
Agencies quote $15,000 to $150,000 and two to twelve months. Here is where that money goes, what an AI mobile app builder charges for the same app, and the fees no builder can waive.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 6 min read
How to publish an app on Google Play in 2026
The $25 account, the 12 testers for 14 days rule that stops most first-time publishers, the review, and the fact that Android phones do not need the store at all.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 7 min read
Glassly vs Rork, a0.dev, Vibecode, FlutterFlow and Replit for mobile apps
Six tools that all make real iOS and Android apps. What each one produces, what it leaves to you, and which one is right depending on whether you can code.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 5 min read
An app for your business, without an agency
Bookings, orders, loyalty stamps, a members list. Whatever your business does all day, there is a finished app for it that you can have on your phone today, free, with your name on the icon.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 5 min read
Build apps for clients without writing code
A finished template is free, a change is a few credits, and the client runs their app from inside it. The economics of a side business building apps for other people, with the limits stated plainly.
Read the note →
5 September 2026 · 4 min read
Test a startup idea with a real app, not a mockup
A prototype people can install answers the one question a slide deck cannot: will anyone use it. How to build an MVP without a developer, what it costs, and where it stops.
Read the note →
2 September 2026 · 5 min read
How to build an iPhone app without a Mac
Apple built the whole iOS toolchain around the Mac. Why that is, what your options are in 2026, and what Apple still charges no matter who does the building.
Read the note →
2 September 2026 · 5 min read
How to choose an AI app builder for mobile
Most AI app builders are excellent and most of them make websites. Five questions that tell you which kind you are looking at before you spend an afternoon on it.
Read the note →
2 September 2026 · 5 min read
Glassly vs Lovable vs Bolt for mobile apps
A fair comparison for one specific question: you want an app on a phone. What each tool produces, what it leaves to you, and where it is the wrong choice.
Read the note →
1 September 2026 · 4 min read
Where the website builders stop
Lovable and Bolt changed who gets to make software. But if the thing you pictured was an app on your phone, the browser is where the story usually stalls.
Read the note →
31 August 2026 · 4 min read
Your group chat deserves better than a group chat
The five-a-side, the book club, the school run rota. At some point the chat stops working, and everyone pretends it has not.
Read the note →
30 August 2026 · 5 min read
What actually happens in your first ten minutes
A minute-by-minute account of going from nothing to an app on your phone, including the two waits nobody else warns you about.
Read the note →
28 August 2026 · 4 min read
Why every template is free
Giving away finished apps is a business model, not a promotion. The arithmetic, with numbers.
Read the note →
26 August 2026 · 4 min read
Pick a colour, keep the app
We made choosing a colour compulsory before you can create your app. Why we did that, and why an app’s colour was never one colour anyway.
Read the note →
24 August 2026 · 4 min read
The run club test
Our internal bar for whether any of this is good enough: can one busy person get a real app onto their club’s phones before Sunday?
Read the note →
22 August 2026 · 5 min read
What "no code" actually means here
The phrase gets used for everything from spreadsheets with opinions to drag-and-drop toys. What it means on Glassly, precisely, including the limits.
Read the note →
20 August 2026 · 4 min read
The family cookbook should be an app
The sauce recipe lives in a screenshot of a text from your mum. There is a better place for it, and it takes about three minutes to make.
Read the note →
18 August 2026 · 4 min read
Coaches with apps keep their clients
PDF plans get lost in inboxes. An app with your name on it sits on the home screen next to Instagram, and that placement does the work.
Read the note →
15 August 2026 · 4 min read
The meeting nobody wrote down
Four decisions were made on Tuesday. By Friday there are three versions of two of them. Small teams do not have a memory problem, they have a home problem.
Read the note →
12 August 2026 · 4 min read
Five apps hiding in your ordinary week
You do not need a startup idea. Most good apps are sitting in plain sight inside the admin of a normal life, waiting for someone to notice them.
Read the note →