So You Have an iPhone App Idea, But Don’t Know How To Program
Pat Here:
If you’re like a lot of people these days, an idea for an iPhone app pops into your head now and again, only to be followed by feelings of doubt. The doubt comes not because your idea isn’t good (you know it’s a great idea, which is why you can’t get it out of your head), but because you don’t know how to get it from your head to an iPhone.
A few months ago, my friend and I had an idea for an app – and not knowing how to code or program didn’t stop us. A couple of days ago, our first app was approved and on sale in the app store. It was really an awesome feeling. We can’t wait for our next app to come out within the next few weeks.
Actually, Quoc does know how to program. but he’ll actually be telling you why we decided to outsource our apps, instead of developing our apps himself. We’ll save that for a later post.
Map It Out
Before you spend some time to find someone to develop your app for you, you’ll need to take your idea and figure out exactly how you want it to work. The easiest way to do this is to pretend you’re using your app on an iphone, and page-by-page make note of what you want to see and where you want each page to go. If it’s a game, think about exactly what you want to see or would want to do. Instead of making a list, you can easily organize all of this in a bubble diagram.
Now, know that even though you mapped it out your way, your app may not be able to perform exactly how you had wished. So no, a laser beam will not be able to shoot out the end of the iPhone, so you can forget about that. However, just map out exactly how you want it, and your developer will be able to tell you whether something you had asked for is not possible on the iPhone.
Where to Find iPhone Developers
In addition to your basic Google Keyword Search, you can find a load of iPhone developers hungry to work on your project on various site such as elance.com or odesk.com. We chose elance because it’s kind of like ebay – you post your job, and people bid to work on it. You can choose your favorite bidder based on price, portfolio and/or reviews.
You might be wondering about people stealing your idea when posting your job or asking for quotes. It doesn’t usually happen, but it is something you should still be cautious about. When posting your job or asking for a quote, you can just give away the basic idea of the app (no details) and ask the potential developer to sign a non-disclosure agreements (NDA) before giving them the whole story. Note that their bids may adjust a little after you disclose all of the information and detail s about your app to them.
On elance, they will provide you with a non-disclosure agreement you can use. If you can’t find one, here’s a sample NDA (on elance). Have them sign it and give it back to you (usually in a PDF format), and you should be good to go. If they steal your idea, you now have proof that it was yours first and you can take legal action accordingly.
Everything Laid Out in Plain English
This is obviously a quick overview of the entire process. If you’d like a proven eBook that walks you through the entire process, from start to finish, please check out How to Create iPhone Apps Without Programming Experience, a book that we’ve used time and time again to publish now 27 applications in iTunes!
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Great article! I have a very similar story (in fact I’m writing a free ebook on it, maybe I’ll send you a pre-release version for your comments). Ironically, about 5 years ago, I provided marketing services on eLance, and now I’m a customer, hiring programmers on eLance!
It’s very nice of you guys to be so transparent and detailing your journey for others to follow. Good luck in your mobile app. endeavors!
Jay Liew
http://twitter.com/jaysern
Hi, i’m working at a financial institute as a programmer and started iPhone programming last year in order to try and start my own mobiles/ecommerce company… First fiddle along and if income can be generated in order to support me (partially) financially i’d love to switch over (80/20 – 50/50 – own company)..
I am very (VERY) curious about investment modals for relative small ideas, and if you let developers say how many hours of work are needed for a job?
I developed iGroupEmail, and have some other ideas but as i am only working at nights on my own ideas i’d love to outsource as long as it is within financial bounds… Hope to see more on this and, keep it up (both being transparant and getting succes!)..
Going to tweet your site along
Hi There,
The elance NDA has a 5 year period (clause 2). one of the developers has asked I change to one year.
What do you think? One year is prety short.
Cheers
Leo
Hi There,
I am really glad to see that you have suggested a very easy way to get the iPhone ideas real,It would be really a helpful post for those who have an idea but don’t know how to code it.
Now i would like to introduce ourselves as a primer provider of Mobile app development services around,we have developed around 100+ mobile apps successfully and many are under development phase.As far as iPhone apps are concerns we majorly deal in iPhone and we have developed around 50+ apps till date.
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Arpit
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Although NDA’s are a good idea, it is worth noting that enforcement may be an issue, especially when working with developers in a foreign country.
The NewAppIdea.com Team
Great article. In the future I can see a lot more people outsourcing their iPhone development, simply because it is so much cheaper. Also, people should really choose their developer wisely as there is huge differences in quality.
Hello, I was wondering if I was to find someone to build my APP and lets say that there were over sea’s, what happens when there done building it for me? How do I see the work? How do I get all the information to Apple to try to get in the APPstore. My concern is what happens when my APP is done. I have the Idea for the APP, I pay someone to build it and then what? Thanks, MIke mlbaa@aol.com
very nice article thanks for the share
Here’s a site similar to elance.com but aimed at multi-year ouitsourcing contracts. OutsourcerMasrketplace.com
Hi
Great article. I was just wondering how you register your application with apple and how you pay them their 30% and how they pay you ? Does the developer organise this?
Kris
I don’t know, the idea of an NDA frankly makes me laugh and I would be shocked if you were able to uphold it in court and if I were a developer I wouldn’t sign it. There’s a reason why most startup investors don’t sign NDAs, they see so many ideas that it would be very easy for people to later say they ripped one off when really they just followed someone else’s similar idea. I just don’t put stock in ideas being worth much, it’s execution that’s valuable. It’s challenging, but it’s the truth.
i got an idea if anyone wants to make it- its a game in the form of “telephone” or “operator”- where you tell someone a phrase and pass it along to friends to see how messed up it gets the further its gossiped? with this game, you would log in, and a random text message would generate and be shown to you for about 3 seconds. you have to memorize it best you can, and it gets texted randomly to another person with the app, and you wont get a text unless the program is running.
I like the intersting content that you discuss on here. Keep up the terrific work you do in maintaining this blog as edu blogs are often a target for spam comments. Have you ever thought about submitting your webpage to facebook ?
Thanks for the informative article. I am a huge idea person, but usually don’t execute the ideas because of overwhelm. This article kind of breaks it down into manageable parts.
I have a killer idea for an app that will generate profits by the billion. who wants a cut? i cant program so i need a discreet ‘it’ genius who can build the program and then i need to approach certain 3rd parties. It sounds crazy but i am serious. my idea is 20 years old, and only now is the technology available to bring it to the world. i’ll offer a 15 percent cut to whoever comes on board and makes it work. your web forum is excellent
I have an amazing idea for an application for the iPad / iPhone it’s killer and WILL!!! Generate huge profit, and it’s an app that is rather simplistic. I too need a genius that can build the program, and am willing negotiate net profit percentages. Cause not only do you need to build the app, but you must advertise it as well. This is where this product will flourish people will want this sooo bad as soon as they see its available. This app is aimed at a specific target market as all apps are, and this specific market demographic which we will be selling spends more money than any other. Practicality and functionality is what I see in apps that sell well, and are rated well as a result this. If someone out there in internet land is interested in designing an app that, I would think is not all that complicated to build and is serious and I mean f!&$n serious about this. Together we can become millionaires I swear.. please only serious designers need respond just email me please James_ngnt@yahoo.com.
1
This site is brilliant! After coming up with an idea, i have looked around and slowly become more and more disheartened that i could never get my app developed. I now have a new lease of enthusiasm and will be visiting elance.com to see what people can offer.
Thanks for the detailed advice, i will be posting this on my facebook page for all to see!
Adam
a cooking ap
What a brilliant site! I have a very simple App idea that I would like to be developed that involves controlling a phones responce when receiving texts messages.
Platform for App would be Iphone and Android. Anyone interested in helping me ?
Designers can e-mail me at mailpeteuk@googlemail.com
i have this great idea for an app, or computer game, or both. I really hope it will, but i can’t find somewere to tell a compony, like armor games, or ninja kiwi, or something like that but i cant find were, does anyone know?
Thanks a lot for sharing your experince and i will certainely be pursuing my own app idea which I am sure will generate millions if a good developer programmes it. I am extremely keen to talk to developers who could make my app for a share of the future profits. please email me if you are a prominent developer ; jameszs@hotmail.co.uk .
Have an idea for app very simple quite surprised hasn’t been done yet
Im sure Thousands of people would use this everyday
Happy to pay full cost of development an share profits
Contact me if you want to know more.
callan.walker@bigpond.com
Have an idea, when my hot girlfriend needs a mirror she should have a mirror app so she can just use her iphone…. i would buy it.
Hi. I also have an Idea. It’s very simple but everyone will want it. It’s only a matter of time before someone else invents it. How much does it cost to develop an app? I can’t see it taking very long. I’m happy to share the profits in return for a developers help. 07867805131
I’ve had a game idea that I’m surprised hasn’t been created yet. I would need a developer that is good with physics and good with accuracy on movement. If that makes sense? I have ideas on how to boost sales on top of the fact that it’s an easy .99¢ if you know what I mean. I don’t trust sharing ideas on the net and I’m not sure if these websites above are right for me. Quality is a must with this app though. Getting ahold of a popular dev team is near impossible I think. I’m very unselfish and the work put in for something like this is just as important as the idea. Please email me if you have any interest what so ever.
Mbuck913@yahoo
Thanks.
i have an idea thats directed toward truck drivers on where to spend there time off out on the road when thy have to take time off
i’m looking for a developer to design it for a share of future profits
contact me at lesodier@frontier.com
I have an incredible app idea which will be really simple to create but will involve significant work on my part for marketing the App to radio stations who want to subscribe to it. In essence, the app itself is easily created and development shouldn’t be a problem, I just need someone who can do it for me and be the means to start the ball rolling after the conceptual phase! Give me an email: 00younga@gmail.com
What if you have an idea for an app that is similar to a platform game that is out should there be any fear of copyright infringement? It is changed in a couple key ways to make it different enough but core mechanics are the same. Anyone who knows about this stuff that could respond on here or email me I would greatly appreciate it thanks contact me at Christopher_Ryan_1@hotmail.com. Thanks.