MIT App Inventor

Introduction

MIT App Inventor ( http://appinventor.mit.edu ) is an integrated development environment (IDE) that allows beginner programmers to create Android apps with visual, drag-and-drop building blocks. With a simple graphical interface, you can create a basic, fully functional app within an hour or less.

Google's Mark Friedman and MIT Professor Hal Abelson co-led the development of App Inventor while Hal was on sabbatical at Google in 2009.

Activities

App Inventor Community

Each month the best youth- and adult-built apps are showcased in an app inventor gallery. With a partner, visit the webpage and spend five to ten minutes exploring the apps. If you have an Android device, you may even want to download an app that interests you. Then with your team, take turns sharing your favorites. What are the most creative ideas? Did you find any apps that help others? Do you have any ideas for an app you’d like to create?

Later, you may want to submit an app you create to the Google Play app store and to the App of the Month contest.

Take the App Inventor Challenge!

With the App Inventor challenge cards, explore the many things you can do inside of App Inventor and try a few out – from speech recognition to taking a picture. On the front of the card, there is a description of something you can do inside of App Inventor. The back of the card tells you what components and blocks to use.

App Inventor Designer

Design the App's User Interface by arranging both on- and off-screen components.