Creating Apps!
I spent a ThanksGiving long weekend (3 days) learning how to build an app. Just like last year, I used ChatGPT to guide me and teach me how to do something almost entirely new (for me at least). I learned a lot.
Did you know there are over 6 Billion , that's with a capital "B", 6 Billion apps on the app store? I know that for a fact. Every app published is given a consecutive number. My first app is number 6,755,244,840. I had to look at that number several times. Unbelievable. Yet, it's never to late to learn something new.
If you want to learn how to create an app, you have to first come up with an idea. Mine, out of necessity, was to create an app to help me learn names. Names are my cryptonite. I just can't remember names. That is a horrible deficit as a teacher. 650 students go in and out of my classroom every week, this year.
FaceTag
Memory Trainer
After it's release, my friend Jacqueline decided to use my app for dogs around her neighborhood. Then my nephew, TJ, mentioned he might use it for learning the names of doctors in his area. I took this as a hint and decided to create a similar app for regular people.
FaceTag is really only for personal use. Learn names of the people you should already know. Get their picture from their FaceBook page or from a company list, or google 'em. Load them up. Start learning with the seven different games I added.
BUT... here is the secret. I decided to make the app more fun and complex. Each time you test yourself on a name or face, the app records if you got it correct or wrong. The logic built into the app will slowly take out the people you get correct. Get it? If you know the person, the app will only throw their name or face into the games once in a while, to make you feel like you are winning once in a while. The app TRAINS you specifically on those names you need to learn.
It doesn't stop there. You can choose from 4 levels of sarcasm and profanity. And, you can choose comments that are generated from 13, yes 13 different Themes (i.e Dentistry, Law, Star Wars, DogLovers, Realty, and my favorite... Spinal Tap!)
More Thoughts
Trying to get an app into the app store is more difficult than applying for a tourist visa into North Korea! I'm not kidding. It took me forever. And after doing it for the first app, I forgot the whole process. Three weeks later, I had to have step by step guidance from the GPT. It was easier to publish a book.
I am glad I created them. It was a lot of work. A lot of fun. Tons of learning. And the most important part? It wasn't about the apps. Both projects were actually a process to learn how to use customized Chat GPTs.
My number one piece of advice for learning a new tech tool is to choose something fun, something that you love to do, or something you really want to achieve, and use the new tool to make your "something". That's what I did. I learned how to skillfully use ChatGpt to improve some skills I have spent a lot of time on and to learn some brand new life-skills in the process.
Will the apps ever "take off" or go "Viral"? Who cares. I created both of them in the span of three weeks, total. The grand total of dollars spent? $20 for the month of paid ChatGPT. Truly amazing. Not that I'll ever get that $20 back. Both of my apps are still free to download. I doubt I'll ever charge for them.