The 9 Best Shopify Mobile App Builders in 2023

The Shopify mobile app builders we're going to share in this post can help you turn your Shopify store into a mobile app, for minimal time, money and hassle.

If you're thinking about building an app for your online store, you're on the right path. An app has the potential to add a lot to your bottom line. Launching an app will allow you to better engage mobile users (who make up the majority of web traffic today), along with retaining a higher percentage of your customers and building a loyal base of repeat buyers.

Keep reading and learn the best way to launch iOS and Android mobile apps for your Shopify store, with the best Shopify mobile app builders on the market today.

Shopify App Builder Features to Look For

You can skip ahead to our recommended Shopify app builders if you'd like - but if you want to get an idea of what we're looking for in a Shopify app creator tool (and what you should be looking for too), here are some of the top features you want the tool to provide.

Building with no code

You run an ecommerce store. You're not a software company, and you probably don't have the staff or the resources to code a mobile app from scratch.

The point of using a Shopify mobile app builder is to cut out the time, cost and complexity of hard-coding an app. Even if you do know your way around mobile programming languages, an app builder that doesn't require any coding will allow you to ship your ecommerce app much quicker and with less hassle.

Learn more about benefits of Low Code and No Code App Builders vs Manual Development.

Recreating your existing site

You want to be able to recreate everything that makes your mobile website great. This means taking plugins, themes, payment gateways and custom features and having them work in your Shopify mobile app.

It should also be easy to build a similar user experience in your mobile app to that of your website, with consistent branding on both platforms.

Minimal work to maintain

When you launch your app, it shouldn't add a huge headache and a ton of work to your workflow.

Ideally, everything will come back to the same backend. Orders, product collections, accounts, logins, and everything about your site should be managed in the same place. The shopping app just delivers a friendlier interface for mobile users to shop on your site.

Flexibility

Many app builders squeeze you into a cookie-cutter template. This makes it really easy to launch your app, but also means your Shopify app is going to look like thousands of others.

In looking for a Shopify mobile app builder, find one that allows you to express your brand's unique image and build a shopping app that stands out.

Additionally, many Shopify app builders use the Shopify API to turn your site into an app. That's good if you want to build a simple app, but it also comes with a lot of limitations, which can stop you from creating the app you really want.

Push notifications

You want to be able to utilize unlimited push notifications in your app.

Push notifications are an incredible communication tool for brands. They're personal, direct, boast impressive open and engagement rates, and help users get into your app in just a few taps.

Push notifications are particularly powerful for ecommerce stores, whether it's providing a great customer experience with order updates, or boosting revenue with personalized promotions and discount offers.

App store compliant

Finally, the app builder you choose should produce an app that's app store compliant.

Getting into the iOS App Store and Google Play Store is huge for your brand. It provides a huge boost of social proof, as well as a new customer acquisition channel.

Not all Shopify mobile app builders comply with what Google and Apple want to see from apps on their platform, so ensure that this is not going to be a problem before you kick off your project.

The Best Shopify Mobile App Builders for Shopify Store Owners in 2023

Compared to native app development, Shopify app builders let you launch iOS and Android apps in a fraction of the time, and at a cost that most online store owners can afford.

You can find a number of options in the Shopify app store, as well as tools on the web that convert your entire site to mobile apps.

To help narrow your search, here are nine Shopify mobile app builders to consider for launching your own Shopify iOS and Android apps.

1. MobiLoud Canvas
2. Tapcart
3. Plobal Apps
4. Vajro
5. Appmaker
6. Shopney
7. Jcurve
8. MageNative
9. Mowico

MobiLoud Canvas

MobiLoud Canvas is the #1 way to build mobile apps for your Shopify store.

Canvas is not just a template-based app builder. It converts your entire site, including all plugins, Shopify apps, themes, and any other functionality, to iOS and Android apps.

Everything that already works for you on your mobile website will work out of the box, for both your Android mobile app and iOS mobile app.

Best of all, your apps and website are 100% synced. You make changes to your site, your apps update as well. This makes it not only the easiest way to launch a mobile app, but the easiest to maintain long-term.

Setup is fast and pain-free. You'll configure a few things, like mobile-specific design elements (menus, navigation, splash screens), and push notification settings. The MobiLoud team handles the rest, including all the heavy lifting under the hood.

MobiLoud also provides ongoing support, for updates, maintenance and any changes to your apps in the future. This is more than you’ll get from almost any other app builder out there.

One of the big pluses of MobiLoud is that it doesn't use the Shopify API to create your app. This means a lot more flexibility, as David Cost from Rainbow Shops found:

"The Shopify API only enables certain things and for all the major providers of hybrid apps for Shopify, they had major limitations that the Shopify API would not let them get around.”

For their Rainbow Apparel app, MobiLoud was the only tool that let them build the app they wanted, without the limitations of the API getting in the way.

What you get with MobiLoud is 95% of what you'd get from coding a native app from scratch, at a mere fraction of the cost, time and complexity. Best of all, you'll retain everything that makes your mobile website great.

Pros:

• Create stunning mobile apps in under 2 weeks.
• Mobile-specific features, including unlimited push notifications.
• Retain all themes, plugins, apps and other features from your existing site.
• Keeps your app and web platforms 100% in sync.
• Hands-off setup - everything works out of the box.
• Maintenance, updates and changes done for you with best-in-class support.

Cons:

• Not a full-scale mobile app builder; can’t design an app-specific interface from scratch.
• Affordable for most businesses, but may be expensive for small-scale or new stores.

Want to see how MobiLoud Canvas can work for you? Get a free, personalized demo to walk through the process with one of our app experts.

Tapcart

Tapcart is a sophisticated mobile app builder, designed specifically for Shopify. It gives you a powerful drag-and-drop front-end editor that lets you design a custom-made app interface.

The backend syncs up with your Shopify store, to manage all your orders and products in one place.

It provides a number of integrations with Shopify apps and third-party plugins or tools - like Klaviyo for email marketing, Facebook and various analytics tools. These implementations work well, but you may be out of luck if you want to integrate any other apps, plugins, or custom features from your site.

It’s also worth mentioning the price. Tapcart is powerful, but pricey. It starts at $250 per month, which is affordable, but this plan offers very limited features. You'll likely need the next level up, at $550 per month, or even to the Tapcart Enterprise plan, starting at $1,200 per month.

Pros:

• Extensive design flexibility with their no-code app builder.
• Backend linked with your Shopify store.
• Intuitive integrations with popular Shopify & ecommerce tools.

Cons:

• Lowest plan (at $250/mo) is very limited.
• For full features, you may end up paying over $1,200 per month.
• May not be able to integrate all functionality of your existing site.

Want to learn more? Check out the best Tapcart alternative, and compare all the pros and cons between MobiLoud and Tapcart.

Plobal Apps

Plobal Apps is another purpose-made Shopify app builder. The way it works is a lot like Tapcart - with a no-code, drag-and-drop editor to build the front-end of your app, while syncing up with your Shopify store backend.

Also like Tapcart, integrations give you access to popular Shopify apps and tools, as well as device features like location services and a QR barcode scanner. The list of integrations is fairly extensive, but still may leave you missing something from your existing site.

On the surface, the cost is not as daunting as Tapcart. But they charge an additional “success fee”, which ranges from 1-3% of your app sales, which adds up as you scale.

Pros:

• Includes all the features you need from an app, such as customizable push notifications.
• User-friendly interface builder.
• Large list of supported integrations.

Cons:

• Doesn’t convert all your existing web features to the app.
• Charges an additional percentage fee on in-app sales.
• They only work with sellers who meet a certain revenue threshold.

Vajro

Vajro is a template-based app builder, which boasts that it lets you launch a mobile app in less than 60 minutes, without coding.

They offer four themes to start with, as well as a drag-and-drop builder. It’s certainly easy to use - but some will find themselves wanting more power.

It uses integrations to link up with apps, third-party tools, supporting over 70 integrations - a lot more than Tapcart and Plobal Apps.

Their lowest plan is affordable at $99 per month, but most stores will find the feature set lacking (it only offers 30 push notifications, for example). You may need to upgrade to $199-$399 per month, which is a little expensive for a templated app builder.

Pros:

• Simple, easy to use.
• Large list of supported integrations.
• Good fit for small stores, with simple needs.

Cons:

• Pricing is a little high, considering the simplicity of the app.
• Template-based, meaning it lacks a lot of flexibility.
• A lot of integrations, but still doesn’t directly replicate what you have on your website.

Appmaker

The Appmaker mobile app builder is similar to most of the Shopify app builders on this list. You'll build the interface with a visual editor, and sync the backend to your Shopify store.

It’s not the most sophisticated app builder, but it's easy to use. Appmaker supports many payment gateways - from major credit cards to Apple Pay, Amazon, PayPayl, Klarna and more - but overall, the integrations are lacking compared to other tools.

Appmaker is a decent fit for stores with simple needs, and no need to integrate any complex features or functionality.

Pros:

• Simple to use.
• Supports a wide range of payment getaways.
• Solid sync with your Shopify backend.

Cons:

• App design is customizable, but still limited to their template.
• Can’t convert your existing plugins/apps/themes.
• Not as many integrations as other app builders.
• Can get very expensive, with $699/$1,199 per month plans.

Shopney

Shopney is a dependable option, offering a little more flexibility for designing your app layout compared to similar template-based app builders.

Smaller stores may find Shopney is a good entry-level option to mobile apps, offering a $99 per month plan, which includes most core features. However, you’ll need to upgrade to the next level up to get features like Abandoned Cart notifications and scheduled push notifications. And some integrations - Klaviyo, for example - are only available on the $499/mo “Platinum” plan level.

Pros:

• Intuitive design editor with multiple themes.
• Ability to send unlimited push notifications.
• Starts at $99 per month, which is decent value for small stores.

Cons:

• Despite the design editor, you’re still limited to their themes and templates.
• Not as many supported integrations.
• Gets expensive if you want the full range of integrations.

Jcurve

The selling point of Jcurve is the price, starting at $89 per month for a very simple feature set. And though you’ll likely need the $139/mo option (required for any decent integrations, as well as Abandoned Cart notifications), this is still more affordable than most alternatives.

A low price point does mean making sacrifices. It’s not as powerful as other app builders. The integrations are limited, and their support is questionable. Still, it may be a good fit for low-level stores just looking to get their feet wet with mobile apps.

Pros:

• Affordable alternative to other Shopify app builders.
• Simple to set up & design a basic interface.

Cons:

• Template-based.
• Reliant on their supported integrations.
• Some reviews mention issues with their support.

MageNative

MageNative offers another interesting option for stores looking for an app builder at a lower price point.

It starts as low as $49/mo - though realistically you’ll need to go at least one level higher to get enough features to make it worthwhile. Yet even their highest plan is cheaper than just about any other from this list.

At the end of the day, it’s still a template-based app builder, and you’re reliant on what they give you in terms of design and integrations. They don’t have as many direct third-party app integrations either, which may be tricky. But for a budget option, it’s a great pick.

Pros:

• Much cheaper than the competitors.
• Get unlimited push notifications, deep linking, even augmented reality features for under $100/mo.

Cons:

• Template-based.
• Not many integrations for popular third-party apps.

Mowico

Mowico is an no-code app builder designed for building ecommerce mobile apps for stores on many different platforms - WooCommerce, BigCommerce, PrestaShop, Weebly and many more, along with Shopify.

Whatever your platform, it integrates with the backend while providing the tools to build your customer-facing app using a no-code app builder and a range of apps and widgets.

The tradeoff for this is that, not being built specifically for Shopify, the integration is not as seamless as with other tools.

The widgets and integrations may also make it tough to recreate what you have on your existing website. They can provide custom integrations or features, but this may get expensive (you need to contact them to get a quote for this).

Pros:

• Affordable.
• Easy to configure, if somewhat basic.

Cons:

• Not made specifically for Shopify stores.
• Need to enquire for custom pricing for any custom integrations or features.

Related: running a WordPress site or WooCommerce store? Check out the best WordPress Mobile App Builders.

Wrapping Up - The Best Mobile App Builders for Shopify Stores

In this post, we've shown the best mobile app builders for Shopify store owners. These tools make it simple for any store owners to launch their own native Android and iOS apps.

For most stores, the hands-down best choice is MobiLoud Canvas. Canvas lets you actually convert what already works for you on your website to your mobile apps. You won’t lose any functionality from your themes, apps or plugins, meaning you’ll provide a seamless experience for your customers.

It’s simple to set up - everything works out of the box, including push notifications, as well as your existing checkout and product collections. And best of all, it’s easy to keep your iOS app, Android app and mobile website maintained and in sync, long-term.

To learn more, and start your journey towards launching your own native mobile apps, get in touch with our team. We’ll discuss your project and your needs, and give you a demo of the platform to show you just how easy it is to build a Shopify mobile app with MobiLoud.