The New Comer – Applicasa
Last month I wrote a quick review of the two BaaS providers that I had used, StackMob and Parse. A few days later I received an email from Tzvi Kopetz, COO and co-founder of Applicasa, a backend solution provider who, even in it’s infancy, is filling in some of the feature gaps that Parse and StackMob have left open. Three of the biggest ones are managing AdHoc builds, a dedicated CMS and custom app framework.
Adhoc Builds
Seeing Applicasa getting closer and closer to provide the Adhoc capabilities of HockeyApp or TestFlight is an evolution that all mobile developers should pay attention to. I currently, have to manage my data/backend api with another provider while managing adhoc builds with TestFlight. Having everything centrally located would be a huge win.
CMS
I am a developer and really don’t want to worry about creating content. At a minimum someone could talk me into writing a script that populates schemas via script or upload. However, most other platforms don’t provide the necessary environment for a content editor role and a CMS that doesn’t have the unnecessary bloat of a traditional CMS.
With Applicasa you are able to create content editors that have a completely separate role from developers so they have an easy and intuitive console for managing the content. Both Parse and StackMob have content consoles with some management capabilities, but they aren’t as featured and you can tell they want you to populate your data via the API.
You can use backend service to send versions (updates) to different clients, use our CMS. I think our CMS is quite a > different approach from the other providers. We actually give you a complete solution so you don’t have to build a CMS, you don’t have to build a complete system for your clients (users). You can actually invite clients to use the system with the developers. – Lior Malenboim, CEO
Custom Framework
When it came time to actually integrate their framework into my test app I kept looking for a github repo or direct framework download from their site, but couldn’t find it. The reason being is that the framework is generated, by the developer on the fly based upon your database schemas and relationships. This is a feature that I never really thought about. Probably because I haven’t seen anyone do this. Parse and StackMob do a great job with their frameworks in regards to abstracting models on the client, however, they don’t give this fine grained control. The ability to have this type of control over the framework, particularly the models, is because the Applicasa framework is generated by the developer and stubbed out based upon your exact data structure.
Summary
Applicasa is a great backend provider with amazing features and support who is truly shaping up to be a “one stop shop”. I have talked with their founders and developers a few times over the past month and they have answered all my support questions promptly and notified me of fixes to any issues I discovered. Over the past month they have rolled out and/or updated their customized objects and iOS SDK, CMS, Webservice with code snippet, Push Notifications, Ad Hoc beta versions, Users management and tickets management system. I am looking forward to seeing what they come out with next.