Claris International Inc., an Apple subsidiary, has announced the launch of FileMaker 19: the company’s first open platform for developers to rapidly build custom apps leveraging direct JavaScript integrations, drag-and-drop add-ons, AI via Apple’s Core ML, and more. 

Through FileMaker 19, developers can be more productive and businesses can now leverage Claris’ global community of developers, marketplace of add-ons, and existing developer resources to collaboratively solve complex digital problems, according to Claris CEO Brad Freitag.

“As cost pressure grows in our rapidly-changing world, companies need to innovate quickly to boost productivity and deliver for their customers,” he adds. “That critical agility is at the core of FileMaker 19 as we open the Claris Platform to the most popular programming language on the planet. We’re excited to see what our 50,000 customers will do with a growing set of add-ons and the ability to integrate any of the millions of JavaScript packages.”

FileMaker 19 enables Claris’ global developer community to use the platform they already know to deliver powerful custom apps to more than 1.3 million active users faster than ever before. Freitag says that with FileMaker 19, developers can:

° Create in a snap with plug-and-play add-ons — Use add-ons like Kanban boards and photo galleries to snap together robust apps faster than ever before, or leverage JavaScript, web services, native FileMaker code and more to create sharable add-ons to sell in the Claris Marketplace.

° Use readily-available JavaScript libraries — Use readily-available JavaScript libraries or create custom code to directly embed maps, animated graphics, data visualization, and more into their apps.

° Build smarter apps — Enable rich user experiences with Core ML machine learning models, support for Siri Shortcuts, and NFC (near field communication) tag reading. Unlock the potential of data with image classification, sentiment analysis, object detection and more.

Additional features include: 

° The ability to create directly in the cloud — Fast track app deployment by creating apps directly in FileMaker Cloud, skipping the multi-step configuration process and making apps instantly sharable.

° The ability to host where you want — In addition to Mac and Windows, FileMaker Server can now be hosted on Linux, an industry standard OS, for high availability and reliability.

On-prem pricing starts at US$15 per user per month. To purchase, go to Claris Pricing and click “Buy” to choose a plan.