How To Open An App From Another App Android

App Launcher

If you have used AppSheet's App Gallery, you know the value of having a list of apps that you can easily access from a single app.

You can create your own App Launcher that launches AppSheet apps. This allows you to create a suite of solutions. It simplifies deployment because you can now deploy one app and simply change a back-end spreadsheet to add or update other apps.

The IT Apps Manager is a sample App Launcher that you can use as an example to build your own App Launcher.

Here's a related tutorial video on app launchers:

1. Create the App Launcher spreadsheet table

The App Launcher is based on a table having three fields.

App Name: You can give any name you wish to the app.
Image: A public URL for the image or enter a reference to a file in your cloud provider. See how to add images.
App Link: The app name you obtain from the link to the app. For example, if the link to the application is https://www.appsheet.com/template/showdef?appName=ClassAssignments-71626,enter "ClassAssignments-71626" in the App Link field.

2. Create the App Launcher app

In the editor click My Apps > Make New App to create the App Launcher application. Select the table you created in step 1.

3. Open the App Launcher in the editor. Click Data > Column Structure and ensure that the columns have the proper Column Types.

App Name: Must have a Column Type of "Name"
Image: Must have a Column Type of "Image" or "Thumbnail"
App Link: Must have a Column Type of "App".

4. Ensure a View of type Gallery, Table, or Deck is present.

5. Save the application.

The linked app will load when you click/tap on the image in the App Launcher application.

The app name (eg: "ClassAssignments-71626") is actually a link to the initial view of the named app. Instead of starting with the initial view, you can specify deep links to specific views of the app.

Opening other apps with a specific view showing

The App type can open an app with a specific view showing. More information: Column type: App

Navigating to a different view in the current app

The App type can link to another view within the current app. More information: Column type: App

You can create your own URL Launcher application that launches web sites based on the web site's URL.

To create a URL Launcher:

Create the URL Launcher spreadsheet table

The URL Launcher is based on a table with three fields.

URL Name: You can give any name you wish to the URL.
Image: A public URL for the image or enter a reference to a file in your cloud provider. See How to add Images
URL Link: The URL you wish to launch.

2. Create the URL Launcher app
In the editor, click My Apps > Make New App to create the URL Launcher application. Select the table you created in step 1.

3. Open the URL Launcher in the editor. Click Data > Column Structure and ensure that the columns have the proper Column Types.

URL Name: Must have a Column Type of "Name"
Image: Must have a Column Type of "Image" or "Thumbnail"
URL Link: Must have a Column Type of "URL".

4. Ensure a View of type Gallery, Table, or Deck is present.

5. Save the application.

The website will load when you click/tap on the web site's image in the URL Launcher application.

Sometimes we want to provide a URL to users of an app by email or other media and direct them to a given view in an app that is already installed. This can be accomplished by providing an Appsheet URL.

This looks like a normal URL but is prefaced with Appsheet, for example: