The Bottom Line: Miva has no native app builder, no app marketplace, and no third-party mobile solutions in its ecosystem. But your Miva storefront already handles everything: complex catalogs, B2B pricing, Vexture search, ERP integrations. MobiLoud takes that working storefront and delivers it as a native iOS and Android app. Nothing to rebuild.
Your Miva site works.
You're running thousands (or tens of thousands) of SKUs with customer-specific pricing, tiered discounts, maybe YMM fitment data for auto parts, maybe complex product configurations for industrial supply. Your ERP syncs in real time through Miva Connect. Your customers rely on Vexture to find exactly what they need across a massive catalog.
The web experience is solid. But more and more of your traffic is coming from phones, and a responsive website isn't keeping up with what mobile shoppers expect.
So you want a native app. And if you've spent any time looking for one in the Miva ecosystem, you already know: there isn't one.
This guide walks through your realistic options and the fastest path to getting your Miva store into the App Store and Google Play.
Can You Build a Mobile App With Miva?
Short answer: not through Miva itself, and not easily on your own.
Miva Has No Mobile App Capabilities
Miva doesn't offer a mobile app builder, an app add-on, or any path to a native app from within the platform.
Your Miva admin has a no-code page builder, AI-powered search, real-time integrations, and sophisticated B2B tools.
Realistically, it has everything you need to build a fast, mobile-optimized user experience… except the ability to launch a real mobile app.
This isn't a feature that's "coming soon." Miva's development priorities are focused on their core strengths: catalog management, B2B commerce, Vexture search intelligence, and platform performance. A native app builder for merchants isn't on the roadmap.
No Third-Party App Builders for Miva
Unlike Shopify or WooCommerce, Miva doesn't have a large extension marketplace where third-party developers build app solutions.
The platform runs on proprietary technology with a smaller (but highly specialized) partner ecosystem. Nobody has built a plug-and-play app builder for Miva stores.
If you search for "Miva mobile app builder," you'll come up empty. That's not a knock on the platform. It reflects the fact that Miva serves a specific market segment, and the third-party ecosystem is focused on integrations, not mobile app generation.
Custom App Development Is Technically Possible, But Expensive
Miva does have APIs that a development team could use to power a custom mobile app.
But here's the problem: you'd be rebuilding your entire storefront from scratch.
- Your product catalog with all its complexity.
- Your customer-specific pricing tiers.
- Your B2B account structures.
- Your Vexture search results.
- Your checkout flow with MivaPay.
- Your Miva Connect integrations with your ERP and warehouse systems.
All of that would need to be re-implemented in a separate codebase.
For a store as complex as most Miva merchants run, that's easily a $200K-$500K+ project. Enterprise builds with full B2B parity can exceed $1M.
And then there's the annual maintenance: $50K-$100K per year to keep two separate systems in sync, handle OS updates, and manage App Store compliance.
The most likely outcome? The app launches, gets initial attention, then gradually falls out of sync with the website as your team prioritizes the platform that actually drives revenue. It's a pattern that plays out over and over in mid-market ecommerce brands.
Your Options for Launching a Mobile App
Realistically, there are two ways you can launch an app for your Miva store.
1. Custom Native or Cross-Platform Development
Hire a team to build dedicated iOS and Android apps (or a cross-platform app in React Native or Flutter) that connects to Miva's APIs.
You get full control over the design and experience. The tradeoffs? High upfront cost, long timeline (6-12 months for a complex B2B/B2C store), and an ongoing maintenance commitment that most mid-market teams underestimate.
You're also betting that the development agency will faithfully replicate every piece of business logic that makes your Miva store work, from pricing rules to inventory visibility to customer account access.
2. Website-to-App With MobiLoud
Your Miva storefront already handles the hard parts. It manages your catalog, serves customer-specific pricing, runs Vexture search, processes payments through MivaPay, and syncs with your ERP.
All of that works in a mobile browser right now. MobiLoud takes that working storefront and delivers it as a native iOS and Android app.
Your website is the app. Everything your customers can do on the web, they can do in the app, because it's the same experience with a native layer on top.
The cost is a fraction of custom development. The launch timeline is weeks, not months. And you never have to worry about two systems drifting apart.
Why MobiLoud Is the Best Way for Miva Stores to Launch an App
Your Miva store is probably more complex than 90% of the ecommerce sites out there.
That complexity is exactly why the website-to-app approach makes so much sense: you skip the most expensive and risky part of app development (rebuilding business logic) entirely.
Your Entire Miva Infrastructure Stays Connected
Miva Connect syncs your store with your ERP, CRM, 3PL, and accounting systems in real time.
That integration layer is critical to how your business operates. When you build a custom app, you either need to replicate those connections or route everything through a new middleware layer.
With MobiLoud, there's nothing to reconnect. The app runs your Miva storefront, which is already connected to everything.
Your NetSuite sync, your warehouse management system, your customer account data: it all flows through exactly the same way it does on the web.
Vexture Search Works Out of the Box
Miva's Vexture search is one of the platform's standout capabilities. It uses AI to understand what customers are actually looking for, even when they use vague or misspelled terms.
For stores with 10,000+ SKUs, that search experience is often the difference between a sale and a bounce.
A custom native app would need to implement Vexture's search functionality through API calls, which means rebuilding the entire search UI and hoping the results display the same way.
With MobiLoud, your customers get the exact same Vexture-powered search experience in the app that they get on the web. No reimplementation needed.
B2B Features Work Without Modification
If you run a hybrid B2B/B2C operation on Miva (and many Miva merchants do), your app needs to support both audiences. That means customer-specific pricing, tiered discounts, volume-based pricing, tax-exempt rules, secure account segmentation, and quote workflows.
Building all of that into a custom app is a massive undertaking. With MobiLoud, your B2B customers log into the app the same way they log into your website, and they see the same pricing, the same account tools, and the same purchasing workflows.
Nothing changes except the channel.
Push Notifications for Retention and Reordering
This is the single biggest advantage a native app gives you over a mobile website.
Push notifications land directly on your customers' phone screens, with engagement rates that consistently outperform email and SMS.
For B2C Miva merchants, that means abandoned cart recovery, back-in-stock alerts, new product announcements, and promotional offers that actually get seen.
For B2B merchants, push notifications are even more valuable: reminders to reorder consumables, alerts when backorders ship, notices about price changes on frequently purchased items.
You're already investing in building long-term customer relationships. A mobile app with push notifications makes those relationships more direct.
Complex Catalogs Without Compromise
Miva merchants often run the kind of catalogs that make other platforms buckle.
- Auto parts with year/make/model fitment data. Industrial supplies with hundreds of product attributes.
- Jewelry with high-resolution imagery and detailed specifications.
- Specialty retail with custom product configurations.
All of that complexity already works on your website. MobiLoud preserves it in the app without any catalog rebuilding, data migration, or feature compromises.
Fully Managed, No Mobile Development Team Needed
Miva merchants typically work with a focused team or a specialized agency partner. Adding iOS and Android development to the mix isn't realistic for most.
MobiLoud handles the app build, App Store and Google Play submissions, ongoing maintenance, OS compatibility updates, and support.
Your team (or your agency) keeps working on your Miva storefront in the environment they already know. Everything they ship on the web automatically shows up in the app.
How It Works
Getting from your current Miva storefront to a live app is straightforward.
- Get a free consultation. Share your Miva store URL with us, and we’ll show you what it could look like as an app, and give you personalized advice on launching your app.
- We build your apps. The MobiLoud team creates your native iOS and Android apps with push notifications, native navigation, deep linking, your branding, and any customizations specific to your store.
- Test and refine. We test across devices. You and your team test on your own phones and provide feedback. We iterate until it's right.
- Launch on the App Store and Google Play. MobiLoud handles submission, compliance, screenshots, and metadata for both stores.
- Ongoing management. Your apps are live. MobiLoud handles OS updates, policy changes, and support going forward. You keep running your Miva store the way you always have.
Most Miva merchants go from first conversation to live apps in about four to six weeks.
Next Steps
Your Miva store already handles complexity that most ecommerce platforms can't touch. High-SKU catalogs, B2B pricing rules, real-time ERP integrations, AI-powered search. It's all built and working.
Rebuilding that from scratch for a mobile app doesn't make financial or operational sense. The cost would be a multiple of what you'd spend with MobiLoud, the timeline would stretch into months, and you'd end up managing two separate systems indefinitely.
Your website already does the heavy lifting. Why not let it power your app too?
Book a free strategy call to see your Miva store as a native app. No commitment - just see if this is the right move for your business.
