I keep turning my Google Sheets into phone-friendly webapps

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Turning Google Sheets and similar tools into phone-friendly web apps is emerging as a popular way for individuals and small teams to build custom software without traditional coding. Commenters share examples ranging from weightlifting trackers and medication schedules to internal org charts and even large-scale COVID testing logistics, often stitched together with tools like Glide, AppSheet, Airtable, and Google Forms. Enthusiasm is tempered by concerns over pricing, scalability, and vendor lock-in, along with debate over when it’s better to just write code or use a real database instead of pushing spreadsheets beyond their original purpose.

Spreadsheets as Lightweight Backends

  • Many commenters use Google Sheets (and Excel/LibreOffice) as primary backends for dashboards, small apps, and personal organization: workouts, finances, health, gardening, accounting, org charts, inventories, etc.
  • Advantages cited: instant sharing, familiar UX, low friction, built‑in versioning/rollback, works well for prototypes and internal tools, easy integration with scripts and APIs.

Concrete Use Cases Shared

  • Fitness tracking via custom sheets, scripts, and regex parsers; some use Google Forms → Sheets as a “pseudo‑app” on mobile.
  • Medical/medication tracking, house inventory, small‑business workflows, COVID testing systems scaling to >1M tests using Airtable + automation tools.
  • Internal tools: accounting helpers, off/on‑boarding workflows, news dashboards, tournament management, org charts, and election trackers.

No‑Code Platforms (Glide, AppSheet, Retool, Airtable, etc.)

  • Glide is praised for quickly turning Sheets into polished PWAs and for internal business apps; some built full league or newsroom apps on it.
  • AppSheet, Retool, and Airtable are also popular for internal tools; Retool seen as more dev‑oriented (SQL + JS), Glide more no‑code.
  • Airtable is favored over Sheets for relational data + API work; some use Notion, Fibery, Logseq, and emerging tools like Thymer for database‑like note systems.

Debate: No‑Code vs “Just Code It” (or Use AI)

  • Some argue a simple HTML/JS app (possibly AI‑generated) or Django/SQLite is straightforward and avoids no‑code lock‑in.
  • Others push back: deployment, auth, PWAs, cross‑device support, and maintenance are real friction; time and opportunity cost matter, especially for non‑developers.

Limitations and Pain Points

  • Google Sheets: awkward on mobile, clunky pivots vs Excel, API considered verbose and flaky at ~25k+ rows, no stable row IDs, and poor fit beyond a few thousand records.
  • No‑code tools struggle when data must be split across multiple tables/sheets; complexity grows sharply.
  • Several report Sheets or no‑code breaking or slowing at higher scale; workarounds include offloading to real databases (Postgres, BigQuery, SQLite).

Pricing, Target Market, and Accessibility

  • Strong backlash to Glide’s pricing ($69+/mo tiers); seen as fine for businesses but prohibitive for hobbyists or non‑revenue personal apps.
  • Multiple commenters want a cheaper “personal/hobby” tier or FOSS Glide‑like alternatives, especially for mobile‑friendly UIs.

Privacy and Control

  • Some are uneasy about banking and sensitive data in Google Sheets; others consider the risk acceptable or minimal compared with existing data collection.