Website to app, nothing left behind

There are four main ways: a DIY website to app converter, a progressive web app, a custom native build, or a managed service like MobiLoud. With MobiLoud, our team makes an iOS app and an Android app from your existing website, adds native features like a tab bar and push notifications, and publishes both apps under your own developer accounts, usually within 6 to 8 weeks.

Most can, from online stores and publications to logged-in web apps. MobiLoud works with websites built on WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, React, Next.js, Laravel, Django and fully custom stacks. The main requirement is a site that works well on mobile, since it powers the app. Our team reviews your site before you commit, so you know exactly what your app will do.

It depends on the approach. DIY converters cost the least, but you build, publish and maintain the app yourself. A custom native app typically costs $250,000 to $1M+ a year once you count the build and the team that maintains it. MobiLoud’s Business plan is $1,499 a month, or $1,274 a month billed annually, plus a one-time fee to build and publish the app, and it includes up to 10,000 monthly active users. Enterprise is custom-priced.

With MobiLoud, plan on 6 to 8 weeks from kickoff to both apps being live: about four weeks to build, customize and test, then App Store and Google Play review, which usually takes one to two weeks. A custom native app usually takes 6 to 12 months to reach its first version.

For a business with a loyal, returning audience, usually yes. An app puts you on the home screen, keeps people signed in and lets you reach them with push notifications, none of which a website can do. Across our published case studies, app users have 3 to 12 times more sessions than mobile web users. If most of your visitors come once and never return, an app is harder to justify.

Yes, when the app offers more than the website alone. Apple’s guideline 4.2 rejects apps that only repackage a website, which is why MobiLoud adds native navigation, push notifications, persistent login, deep links and other native features. We handle the submission and any questions from reviewers, and we’ve published more than 2,000 apps since 2013.

No. Your app runs on your live website, so new pages, content, products and design changes appear in the app as soon as you publish them. App updates are only needed for changes to the native layer, and we handle those.

Not quite. Adding a website to the home screen from Safari or Chrome gives people an icon that opens your site, or a progressive web app (PWA) if your site supports it. Neither is listed on the App Store, and on iPhone a PWA can only send push notifications once someone has added it to their home screen. A MobiLoud app is a native app published on both app stores, so people can find it there, and it can ask for push permission as soon as it’s opened.

They can be, for a personal project or a simple site. You’ll usually configure, publish and maintain the app yourself, with fewer native features and less help when an app store rejects it. For a business whose website does a lot, or that wants a team looking after the app, a managed service is the better fit.

If your website is fast on mobile, your app will be too. The app uses the same rendering engines as Safari and Chrome, and MobiLoud’s native layer doesn’t add noticeable lag. Heavy animation and complex gestures are where a fully custom app still has the edge.

No. A custom native app needs your content, accounts and features exposed through an API and then rebuilt on the mobile side. A MobiLoud app runs on your live website, so there’s no API to build or maintain.

You send push notifications from your own OneSignal account, or from Klaviyo on the Enterprise plan, with segments, scheduling and automations. Each message can open any page in your app, and our team helps you set up your first campaigns.

Yes. We build the new app on your website, and in most cases we publish it as an update to your existing App Store and Google Play listings, so your ratings, reviews and existing users carry over.

You do. We publish both apps under your own Apple Developer and Google Play Console accounts, so the listings, reviews, users and data belong to you. MobiLoud owns the platform that builds the app, and if you ever move on, your listings and users stay with you.