Yes, you can build apps for clients with no code and make the numbers work. Every template is free, every change is a few credits, and the plan that covers the work is $5 a month. Whether that turns into a side hustle building apps for local businesses depends on what you sell, what it costs you, and who owns what. The last one is the one people skip.
What you are selling
A finished app, installed on the client’s phone with their name on the icon and their colour on every screen, running on its own backend. The templates cover the businesses that ask for apps most: bookings, a shop, loyalty rewards, courses, events with tickets, invoices, a members club. You claim one, name it after the client, pick their colour, and it exists in minutes.
Then you sell the part they cannot do themselves: knowing what to ask for. “Add a Sunday closing time.” “Let regulars rebook in one tap.” Each change is a sentence in the app’s chat and a few credits of computing, and it lands on the client’s phone with the next update.
What it costs you
To start an app business without coding you need one account and one plan. Templates never cost credits. The Basic plan is $5 a month and comes with 50 credits, and a small change is a few of them. Android installs from a link the client can forward, and it always serves the newest version. iPhone is the exception: Apple only installs apps through a developer account, which is $99 a year and has to belong to somebody, so either you hold one or the client does. Publishing to Google Play is a one-off $25 for whichever account owns the listing.
Who owns what
This is the part to get straight before you quote anyone. The app lives in your Glassly account, so the plan and the credits are yours and your fee sits on top. The client does not need a Glassly account at all: they sign up inside their own app like any user, and you make them the admin from the app’s settings. Nobody becomes admin by signing up first.
- The backend starts on a managed one and can move into a Supabase project you control.
- Store listings belong to whichever developer account publishes them, so plan for the client to hold those.
- There is no button that moves an app between Glassly accounts today. If a clean handover matters to a client, say so up front and price for it.
A first week that pays for itself
Pick a business you already know. Claim the template that fits, name it after them, send the install link, and ask for the three changes they mention in the first five minutes. Ship those the same day. Charge for the changes, plus a monthly fee that covers the plan and your time. The trainers, salons and clubs who want an app have never been offered one for the price of a coffee. That is the whole pitch.