I’m building my first AppSheet app and would appreciate some guidance on the best way to solve a challenge I’m facing.
The app is designed for internal use within my organisation. However, I need one specific form (used to create a new record in my database) to be accessible to external users — and I want those users to only be able to add their own details, without being able to see anything else in the app.
A real-life example:
A new patient walks into a doctor’s clinic for the first time. The receptionist hands them an iPad with a form to complete. Once submitted, their information is added to the clinic’s database, but they don’t have access to view any other records or parts of the system.
So far, I’ve thought of two possible approaches:
Creating a Google Form and linking it to my AppSheet database
Creating a separate form view in AppSheet and only allowing a pre-designated account to access/edit that form (if this is possible)
What is the best solution for this use case, and how would you recommend implementing it?
For this scenario in AppSheet, the cleanest approach is to create a separate app (or a public slice of your main app) that contains only the single form view tied to the target table. You can control visibility with a slice that allows only adds and hides all existing records, then set the slice as the data source for that form. In Security > Options, you can enable “Allow guests” or use a public app setting if you truly don’t need sign-in, otherwise create a dedicated user role with add-only permissions. This keeps external users isolated from the rest of the app while still writing directly to your main database.
A separate app for sure to minimize the data they have access to. In case it is not clear, you can have as many apps as you need operating against the same datasource.
How will the patient update their details on subsequent doctors visits? Do they just fill everything out all over again or will the current system information be presented for the patient to correct and verify?
Yes, this can work. It has been a while since I have tried Google Forms but I recall there were issues with how some data was submitted that it didn’t conform well to AppSheet data and extra steps were needed to transform the submitted data.
You can do basically the same thing with a dedicated AppSheet App. There are some nice features in Google Forms that are not in AppSheet, but in the end they both can acheive the same goal. AppSheet will take less effort - in most cases.
I would not recommend this just in case an app issue might allow a patients to see information they shouldn’t. Keep the Patient access completely separate from office access.
For future visits, if a user needs to edit or remove any details, that will be handled by a receptionist rather than the patient themselves. That’s another reason I’m leaning more towards AppSheet than Google Forms — it just feels better suited for managing that kind of controlled workflow.
I also agree with your point about keeping patient access totally separate from the main app. A dedicated patient-facing AppSheet app connected to the same data source sounds like the cleanest and safest approach.
Appreciate the insight on Google Forms too — that was super helpful. Thanks again!