Build a food recipe mobile app

Building your first mobile app can feel like a high barrier — the coding, the design, the testing. But no-code tools like Glide break down that barrier. Your actual job is to transform structured data into a usable, attractive app interface quickly and reliably. Glide lets you do exactly that, using Google Sheets as your backend.

This lesson guides you through building a food recipe app — a delightful, practical project that covers core no-code skills. By the end, you will have a minimal but lovable app that you can further iterate on or showcase.

Glide turns spreadsheets into apps — fast and visual

Glide’s core value is speed and simplicity. Instead of writing code, you start with a Google Sheet — your product’s data source. Glide reads your sheet, automatically generates lists, cards, and menus, and lets you customize the look and flow visually.

Talvinder demonstrated this in a recent session:

"You can go to theme and decide what you want to do — headings, body fonts, colors. This customizes your app to look like it’s your app. You can go to pages — right now, there are two pages: Home and Meals. One table is about restaurants, another about meal types. From meal type, you discover restaurants that serve that type. It’s one of the fastest ways. I like software that lets you build a working product right away."

The magic is that Glide handles the heavy lifting of UI generation. Your spreadsheet data defines what content appears, and Glide lets you style and arrange it.

Step 1: Prepare your data in Google Sheets

Your spreadsheet is your app’s database. The columns are fields; the rows are records. For a food recipe app, you want to capture all the information your users will browse or filter on.

A good starting schema looks like this:

Important: For images, include direct URLs—either from a shared Google Drive folder or a reliable external source. Glide uses these to display pictures in your app.

The data structure should be consistent and normalized where possible. For example, you might have a separate sheet for cuisines or meal types if you want to link across tables.

Step 2: Create your Glide app and connect the sheet

Head over to Glide and sign up. You can start a new app from scratch or from existing data.

• Choose "New Project"
• Select "Google Sheets" as your data source and pick your prepared sheet
• Glide will sync your sheet and generate an initial app with default layouts

Talvinder noted:

"Glide got its popularity because you can build apps off Google Sheets, using the sheet as the database. It’s free to start, which is great. Sometimes it struggles with syncing, especially if you have multiple accounts, but overall it’s one of the fastest ways to get started."

If your data has multiple tables (e.g., Recipes and Cuisines), Glide will create multiple tabs or pages automatically.

Step 3: Customize theme, pages, and navigation

Once your data is connected, customize your app’s look to reflect your brand or style. Glide offers control over:

• Theme colors: Pick your app’s primary color, background, and accents
• Fonts: Choose heading and body fonts to create the right tone
• Tabs and pages: Rename, reorder, and assign icons to your app’s main tabs
• Menus: Control which pages appear in the side or bottom navigation

Talvinder shared:

"You can go to theme and decide what kind of headings, fonts, and body text you want. This makes the app feel like your own. Then you set up pages — for example, Home and Meals. You can add more tabs as needed."

Organizing your pages well is critical for usability. For a recipe app, you might have:

• Home: Welcome screen or featured dishes
• Recipes: List of all dishes
• Cuisine filter: Filter recipes by cuisine type
• Favorites: User’s saved recipes

Step 4: Design screens and cards for content display

Glide offers multiple ways to display lists and details, including:

• Card style: Shows an image with text overlay, great for recipes
• List style: Simple text list, good for quick scanning
• Details screen: Shows full recipe details when a user taps a card

You can customize each screen’s style and layout:

• Adjust image widths
• Add overlays like favorite buttons or ratings
• Choose what fields appear in lists and detail views

Talvinder recommended:

"Use the Card style for food recipes. You can change the image width in the list settings, add a favorite overlay on cards, and customize icons. This creates a simple, professional look that’s easy to navigate."

This step is where your app begins to feel like a real product, not just a data dump.

Step 5: Add workflows and user interactions

Glide supports basic workflows without code:

• Users can tap to favorite recipes
• You can add filters or search bars
• You can set up user sign-in for personalized lists

For a recipe app, a common workflow is:

• User browses recipes by cuisine or meal type
• Taps a recipe card to see details: ingredients, steps, images
• Saves favorites for quick access later

Even at this stage, these simple interactions make your app engaging and useful.

Step 6: Review and publish your app

Before sharing your app, review settings carefully:

• App info: Name, description, logo
• Privacy: Public or invite-only access
• URL: Customize your app’s share link

When ready, hit Publish. Glide hosts your app and makes it accessible on mobile devices through a web link or as a Progressive Web App (PWA).

Talvinder concluded:

"Publishing is straightforward. Just review your app info and settings, then hit Publish. You get a live app you can send to friends, customers, or stakeholders."

From the field: Talvinder on Glide’s role in no-code

Field exercise: Build your own food recipe app (20 min)

1. Prepare a Google Sheet with columns: Dish Name, Cuisine, Ingredients, Steps, Image URL.
2. Populate 5-10 rows with sample recipes. Use real images from free sources or your own photos.
3. Create a Glide app connected to your sheet.
4. Customize the theme to pick your favorite colors and fonts.
5. Set up tabs for Home, Recipes, and Favorites.
6. Use Card style for recipe lists and add favorite overlays.
7. Publish your app and open it on your mobile device.
8. Share your app link with a friend or mentor and get feedback.

Judgment exercise

Meeting scene: Deciding on app complexity vs speed

Slack chat: Team coordinating on Glide app launch

Where to go next

• If you want to design user flows and wireframes: User Journey Mapping
• If you want to prototype with Figma before building: Low-Fidelity Prototyping
• If you want to learn more no-code tools: No-Code Tools Overview
• If you want to validate product-market fit: Product-Market Fit