Glide
Glide Your Way to No Code App Development

User-friendly experiences and designs have long been at the top of the checklist for application development. However, only a few businesses have embraced and incorporated these practices. Glide is one such company that has placed user-friendliness at the heart of its no-code platform. This eponymous platform enables the development and deployment of custom apps, requiring just a few clicks and eliminating the need for coding knowledge.

“Glide’s most salient factor is its integrated nature and ease of use, enabling organizations to create mobile and desktop apps with ease,” says David Siegel, co-founder and CEO of Glide.

Siegel and his team have previously operated in software development domains for world-leading corporations and other startups, where they identified platform design and usability as significant influences on the number of errors made in the development lifecycle. Vying with the ideology that an interface must enhance the user experience, Glide developed a user-centric, no-code platform explicitly designed for non-technical professionals.

For instance, a Tech Integrations Specialist at Lone Star used Glide to develop an app for field technicians responsible for installing and maintaining hospital emergency utility equipment. Supported by AI functionalities, the application enabled interactive chats with digitized repair manuals, saving agents from carrying bulky documents. Witnessing Glide’s value first-hand, Lone Star developed numerous mobile applications within a year, generating over 80,000 app interactions and over 250 internal users.

“When our technicians are out in the field, they have their tool belts on. They might be on a ladder or at a hospital.

Before, they would have to log into multiple manufacturers and our internal customer connection portal to get a cut sheet or download an installation guide or other needed information,” says Brian Banks from Lone Star. “So we decided to put that in their hands in a mobile Glide app, where they can get direct access to the data they need right there on the spot in two clicks.”

Empowering Lone Star and numerous other customers to achieve this impressive feat is Glide’s robust programming model that connects multiple data sources, converting them into a user-friendly custom application. Glide automatically creates a basic application—one that’s nearly ready to use— when users simply upload a spreadsheet. From there, users can customize the layout and design of their apps. They can also add components, connect other data sources such as Airtable, BigQuery, or SQL, and add custom actions that use third-party integrations—like OpenAI, Microsoft Outlook, DocuSign, and more—to build complex workflows and more.

Glide’s most remarkable function is its live synchronization, where changes made in spreadsheets are automatically reflected in the associated applications. As more data is uploaded into their apps, Glide updates the corresponding information in the spreadsheets in real-time. The developed applications work on phones, tablets, and the web and are distributed via a link. Once the app is opened in a browser, it can be turned into a quickaccess shortcut on any device’s home screen or desktop.

Glide integrates seamlessly with Excel Online, Google Sheets, Airtable, BigQuery, and SQL data sources. Glide also has a native high-scale database called Glide Big Tables, which can handle up to 10 million rows of data. Individuals can build, iterate, and distribute the apps with varying levels of accessibility and permissions according to their team’s needs.

Backing Glide’s innovative product is its agile software development methodology, where individuals use Glide to create simple application prototypes, share them with their company stakeholders and workforce, gather feedback, and make prompt iterations. The applications are then modified to the custom needs of any organization, achieving specialized results beyond the capabilities of off-the-shelf products.

Through its user-centric and horizontal platform, Glide serves businesses of all sizes across various industries. The platform is built for professionals who require customized versions of the software they regularly use. Glide is actively used by hundreds of thousands of individuals who have successfully created millions of applications. These professionals constitute a vibrant community, supporting each other in building apps for virtually any imaginable use case. In addition to introducing new AI-backed features, Glide regularly organizes community workshops, publishes YouTube tutorials, and promotes collaborative and community-driven efforts across industries.

A design-focused company, Glide has forged strong partnerships between its design and engineering teams. By empowering non-developer professionals to develop apps, Glide elevates everyday people to a level of proficiency comparable to skilled designers and engineers. This visionary strategy ensures that apps built with Glide remain modern and fresh, even as design trends change. Glide is bridging the gap between technological prowess and creative ingenuity.