The Bottom Line: OpenMage has no mobile app solution, and the Magento 1 ecosystem that once offered mobile options has largely moved on. MobiLoud turns your existing OpenMage storefront into a native iOS and Android app without touching the codebase. Every extension, every customization, every piece of checkout logic you've built over the years carries over automatically.
When Adobe dropped support for Magento 1 in 2020, a lot of merchants migrated to Magento 2, Shopify, or something else entirely.
You didn't. You looked at what a migration would cost, looked at the store you'd already spent years building, and decided to stay.
That wasn't a lazy decision. OpenMage LTS gave you a path forward: an actively maintained fork with security patches, PHP 8 compatibility, and a community of 200+ contributors keeping the platform viable.
Your store works. It's stable, it's fast, and it does exactly what you need it to do.
But staying on OpenMage means the ecosystem around you keeps shrinking. Extension developers have moved on. Agencies that once specialized in Magento 1 now focus on M2 or Adobe Commerce. And mobile app solutions that existed in the Magento 1 era have mostly disappeared.
You need a mobile app. And the options aren't what they used to be.
Can You Build a Mobile App With OpenMage?
Not through the platform itself, and the ecosystem that once could help has largely dried up.
No Built-In Mobile App Capabilities
OpenMage is a maintenance fork. The community's focus is on keeping the platform secure, compatible with modern PHP versions, and stable for the merchants who depend on it. That's the right priority.
But it means there's no mobile app builder, no app module in the admin panel, and no roadmap for one.
The Magento 1 Extension Ecosystem Has Moved On
Back when Magento 1 was Adobe's flagship, Magento Connect had thousands of extensions, including mobile app builders. Companies like JMango360, Mobicommerce, and others sold Magento 1 mobile app solutions.
Most of those companies have either shut down, pivoted to Magento 2, or stopped supporting their M1 products. The extensions that still technically exist haven't been updated for recent PHP versions or OpenMage compatibility.
Finding a maintained, reliable mobile app extension for OpenMage today is effectively impossible.
The REST/SOAP API Shows Its Age
Magento 1's API was functional for its era, but it wasn't designed for the demands of a modern mobile app. The REST API covers basic catalog, customer, and order data. But anything beyond that, loyalty programs, custom checkout steps, advanced product configurations, promotional rules, content pages, typically requires direct database access or custom API development.
A development team could build a mobile app against these APIs, but they'd spend a significant amount of time working around limitations, filling gaps, and recreating functionality that your website already handles natively.
Custom App Development Is Possible, But Expensive
You could hire developers to build iOS and Android apps from scratch. For an OpenMage store, that means working with an aging API, building custom endpoints for anything the API doesn't cover, and recreating your storefront's functionality in a separate codebase.
Realistically, you're looking at $100K-$250K for the initial build, depending on complexity. Annual maintenance runs $30K-$70K for OS updates, App Store compliance, and keeping the app in sync with your website.
And here's the part that makes this especially painful for OpenMage merchants: you stayed on this platform specifically to avoid a six-figure rebuild. Spending $100K+ on a custom app goes against the logic that brought you here.
Your Options for Launching a Mobile App
Custom Native Development
Build dedicated iOS and Android apps from scratch using the Magento 1 REST API plus custom endpoints.
You control the design and experience, but you take on the full development cost and ongoing maintenance of a parallel system.
For an OpenMage store with years of customizations and extensions baked in, replicating the full web experience in a native app is a project measured in months and six figures. And you'll need developers who know both the Magento 1 codebase and modern mobile development, a combination that gets harder to find every year.
Website-to-App With MobiLoud
Your OpenMage storefront already works on mobile browsers. It handles the full shopping flow, processes payments, applies discount rules, and includes every extension and customization you've installed.
MobiLoud takes that working storefront and delivers it as a native iOS and Android app.
No API integration. No custom endpoints. No rebuilding your checkout. The app is powered by your website, so everything that works on the web works in the app.
Why MobiLoud Is the Best Option for OpenMage Stores
The logic is straightforward: you've invested years in your OpenMage store to avoid unnecessary rebuilds. MobiLoud follows that same philosophy.
No Dependency on the Magento 1 API
This is the biggest technical advantage for OpenMage merchants. MobiLoud doesn't connect to your store through the REST or SOAP API. It doesn't need custom endpoints. It doesn't care whether your API covers 50% or 100% of your store's functionality.
The app renders your storefront directly. Whatever your customers see and do on your website, they see and do in the app. This sidesteps the single biggest obstacle to building a mobile app on an older platform.
Every Extension and Customization Carries Over
After years on Magento 1, your store is almost certainly running a stack of extensions. Shipping calculators, tax rules, product configurators, review systems, customer group pricing, promotional engines, abandoned cart tools, whatever you've installed and configured over the years.
A custom app would need to either replicate each of those extensions through API calls (if the API even supports them) or rebuild them from scratch. With MobiLoud, they all work in the app because the app runs your website. No compatibility testing, no feature gaps, no surprises.
Your Custom Theme and Design Work Persists
Many OpenMage merchants have invested in custom themes that reflect their brand and optimize the shopping experience. That design work, from product page layouts to checkout flows to category navigation, appears in the app exactly as it does on the web.
Customers who switch between your website and your app see the same experience. That consistency matters for trust, especially for stores with loyal repeat buyers.
Push Notifications for Customer Retention
A native app puts you on your customers' home screens with the ability to send push notifications directly to their phones. New product alerts, sale announcements, abandoned cart reminders, back-in-stock notifications, shipping updates.
For OpenMage merchants who've built a loyal customer base over years, push notifications are the most valuable native feature. They give you a direct channel to your best customers that doesn't depend on email open rates or social media algorithms.
No PHP or Mobile Development Skills Needed
Your team knows PHP and the Magento 1 codebase. MobiLoud doesn't ask them to learn anything new. The service is fully managed: app build, App Store and Google Play submissions, ongoing maintenance, OS updates, and support. Your developer keeps working on your OpenMage store. Changes go live on the web and in the app simultaneously.
Future-Proof Your Mobile Presence
Here's a reality that OpenMage merchants think about: how long will the platform be around? The community is active and committed, but it's a legitimate question.
MobiLoud gives you a mobile presence that's independent of your platform's future trajectory. If you eventually migrate to a different platform, your MobiLoud app migrates with you. The app points to your website, so when your website moves, the app follows. No new app build, no re-submission to the app stores.
How It Works
- See it first. Book a free consultation and share your OpenMage store URL and we'll build a preview you can test on your own phone. See your products, checkout flow, and customizations working inside a native app before you commit.
- We build the apps. MobiLoud creates your native iOS and Android apps with push notifications, native navigation, deep linking, and your branding.
- You test and give feedback. Try the app on your devices, walk through the full shopping experience, and let us know what needs adjusting.
- App store launch. MobiLoud handles Apple App Store and Google Play submission, compliance, and metadata.
- We manage it going forward. OS updates, app store policy changes, and ongoing support are handled by MobiLoud. Your OpenMage store is the only thing you need to manage.
Typical timeline is around four weeks from first conversation to live apps.
Ready to see what’s possible? Book a free strategy call now.
Next Steps
You stayed on Magento 1 because it made sense. The store works, the customizations are dialed in, and the cost of rebuilding on a different platform couldn't be justified. That same logic applies to mobile.
A custom app means another six-figure rebuild on top of an aging API, with a shrinking pool of developers who know the codebase. MobiLoud gives you a native app that runs your existing store, preserves everything you've built, and launches in weeks for a fraction of the cost.
The platform you chose may be legacy. The mobile experience doesn't have to be.
Book a free strategy call to see your OpenMage store as a native app. No commitment, just see what the process looks like and whether it makes sense for you.
