It’s a fairly simple inspection app that doesn’t include any names or personal information but does use a client’s email address to send them the report.
Can that be a public app?
YES…it can be a Public App. Public Apps have the same features as the Core Plan just without the secured login access. You CAN send emails to users but will have to ask for the email address since you don’t know who the user is.
Note: Depending on how you are disseminating the Public App, you will most assuredly get bogus responses/requests. Some people are just mean that way!!
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Also.. if you set the option “Filter out all records” as ON (in that table’s settings), nobody is able to see those records or emails. If you have a list of users who are going to fill those inspections, you can also use a Bot (with another app) to delete those rows that are not coming from valid users.
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Just to clarify - the clients email address would have been sent to the device on sync before the inspection took place.
Still OK?
YES! I was not thinking from the use case of an inspector sending an email to the customer. The implication is that the row has the customer’s email already recorded.
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EDITED: Sorry for confusing information. I said initially that it can be a Public App based on the comment “doesn’t include names or personal information”. You then later implied that your data WOULD have the client email address saved on a row somewhere already. This is personal information that a client may not want publicly available. Please read the “caution” below.**
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HOWEVER…a caution…with a Public App there is no security. The app doesn’t know who the user is and therefore cannot lookup and apply restrictions. ANYONE who gets a link to the app can open it and have access to whatever functionality is implemented. You might think you can build your own login functionality. Many have tried and found it just doesn’t work long term. There are many ways in a public web app to circumvent the login function.
I don’t know what kind of inspections are being performed but by simply mentioning “clients” this is likely some business app you are trying to build and would want secured data.
I would strongly recommend using a secured app to protect the clients and their information. I would obtain licenses only for those accessing the app on behalf of the business.
To save on licensing costs, I might use a Public app as a client lookup tool ONLY. The client MUST enter the Inspection ID they were sent (and maybe also a personal code they provided previously) and only has read capability to view the inspection information limiting the personal information shown.
I would not recommend using a Public app for data entry of client information and/or client inspection details.
I hope this helps!
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Sorry for the delay in getting back to this!
Yes, I do agree and I’d rather err on the side of caution. The app I have in mind is already being used by a number of my clients under the starter plan and is secure - a competing app [not built with Appsheet] is available for a fixed price and unlimited users but I’m presuming there’s no security as there is no login and can be used by anyone with a link to it.
I was simply checking that I couldn’t do the same but it is a business app that handles names, addresses and email addresses so I would have thought that this falls under GDPR.
I shall continue running it as it is.
AppSheet does indeed have a fixed price app - aka public app. It is provided under their Publisher Pro plan and is a flat rate of $50/month. Like you described, it allows anyone with the link to access the app and there is no secured access. The app never knows who is truly accessing the app. Any login process you try to build can be circumvented easily.
If you do go this route, now or in the future, be aware that Publisher Pro apps cannot be mixed in an account that has secured apps as well - at least that was my understanding last I checked. You can still share datasources between the two accounts, the apps just need separated - I think for billing purposes.
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