Basic4android (B4A) Reviews & Product Details

As a designer and developer interested in exploring alternative ways to develop and design experiences, it is refreshing to see older languages like Basic used for Android Application development. It uses a variant of Basic called B4X, and if you understand Basic or Visual Basic you will feel right at home with this IDE. It does exactly what it says it does, which is essential when looking for software. It is mainly designed for building Android applications, but it does support iOS and even writing programs for Raspberry Pi, which gives it some versatility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

For software that uses a language designed to be easy to use, setting up the software was a little bit of a hassle at first, it's not as intuitive as it should be if you're trying to get it up and running. If you use more conventional IDEs like Eclipse or Android Studio you probably would instead turn to those than trying to get this up and running, but once you get past that it's not hard to find your way around it. I didn't like how much I had to look at the provided documentation while initially learning this IDE, but most things have a bit of a learning curve. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of use: B4A uses a basic-like syntax, which is easy to learn and understand, even for non-programmers.

Rapid development: B4A has a number of libraries and modules that simplify the process of developing Android apps, allowing developers to create and deploy apps quickly.

Visual Designer: B4A includes a visual designer that enables developers to create user interfaces with ease, without the need for manual coding.

Smaller APK size: Apps developed using B4A typically have smaller APK sizes compared to those developed using Java.

Cost-effective: B4A is a cost-effective solution for Android app development, as it does not require a costly Java development environment or a Java development team. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Limited community: As B4A is a relatively new platform, it has a smaller community compared to other Android app development platforms like Java or Kotlin.

Limited libraries: B4A has a limited number of libraries compared to other development platforms, which means that developers may have to write more code to implement certain features or functions.

Performance limitations: B4A may not be suitable for developing high-performance or resource-intensive apps, as the performance of apps developed using B4A may be slower compared to those developed using other platforms.

Lack of documentation: B4A has limited documentation, which can make it difficult for new users to get started or for experienced users to find information about specific features or functions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The tool has few restrictions and it is very user friendly. There is no need to have coding knowledge to use this tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's a paid tool and it does not have all the capabilities to call it a comprehensive tool suite. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's very user-friendly. No need to be an expert. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

You have to pay for it. As it's a paied production it should be more rosbust. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like B4A because it has support for external libraries, so it is possible to reuse Java code.

It is open source software.

It has a wide community of users, so there is a lot of interesting documentation for the development of different apps.

In addition, Visual Basic and B4A are very similar programming languages, so the learning curve was very short since I am very fluent in that language. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find it unfortunate that it allows you to develop apps for Android and iOS, but you can only install the software on Windows. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

B4A is extremely simple to use and the B4X language can be easily use with B4J, B4i and B4R respectively. The B4A debugger is second to none, wireless connectivity to Android phones and tablets can be achieved by using the B4A-Bridge application on any network, the IDE is nice and clean, the built in layout designer has some nice touches that should be adapted by other packages, Smart String Literal is an excellent addition, the support on the forum is easily the best that I've ever come across, their are plenty of B4X experts available to help with developers enquiries. There are too many positives to mention here, suffice to say B4A is an excellent development package.

If you manage to find any bugs, depending on the urgency the developer will ALWAYS release a fix for it them. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I don't really have too many dislikes. The IDE is missing a couple of simple touches, and a simple template manager wouldn't go a miss either. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like most is the coding in Basic since it is a programming language very easy to learn. The user interface is very visual and simple, but fast and functional. It has a wide library and resources, also a very active community. The debugging is done quickly. The generated apk are light. There're many updates and bug fixes in the forums of the official page, which is also in several languages, which is a good support for all developers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Although the software is still developing constantly, often errors of debugging and execution occur and you have to resort to the community, which is very active, but this creates a relationship of codependence Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

With this application we can use the real devices not emulator to debugging the applications and see the result and check for performance of your device when you apply your new applications and see if there are any effect on your device Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

this product not have a lot of features to let the debugger control everything and make every thing easier to the developer Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Coding is done in Basic, , so it is not necessary to have extensive knowledge of Java.

Allows any user to create and share their own libraries written in Java.

the official forum which is very active, has sections in different languages, with a lot of material, libraries, tutorials, etc. answers are obtained almost immediately.

The generated apks are quite small compared to those generated in other editors.

it can be compiled locally and remotely, so is not necessary for the device to be always connected, but local compilation allows work with the emulator and USB debug.

with b4j and b4i tools, you can create apps for other platforms without having to rewrite the whole code. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

only available for Windows.

The community is very active and cooperative, but b4a depends a lot on it, which can be negative in the long term. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

B4A is only one part of the whole B4X suite which does support, next to Android, also other platforms like iOS, MacOS, Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Web applications. The business logic is almost 100% compatible between the platforms, and with the recent addition of XUI, most of the UI layout too.

Its basic-like language is very easy for beginners, and the possibility to write plugins/libraries yourself gives power users the ability to extend its possibilities.

B4A has a strong, active and friendly community (96K+ members at the point of writing) and they contribute a lot of free libraries.

One of the most unique features of the tool is the possibility to live code swapping in debug mode. This allows you to change code while running on a real device without having to recompile. This feature alone puts it miles ahead of the competition regarding productivity.

The developer of B4A himself is very active and accessible on the forum. Updates (bug fixes, but new features too) are fast, sometimes within hours.

The uses for this tool are very versatile: from games over IoT to large CRM applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It would be nice if the IDE could also run on Mac and Linux or even Chromebook. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.