Mobile App Builder user guide

Design a branded shopping app for your Shopify store, publish an installable web app, or prepare signed Android and iOS packages. Start with a draft and review it on a phone before launching. A generated design is a starting point; it does not mean your app is ready for a store review or already available to shoppers.

Choose a launch path

For iOS, use your own merchant Apple Developer account. Publish explains Apple's rule for apps made with a template service, including guideline 4.2.6. Your team owns the store listing, agreements, declarations, upload and review submission. Google Play has its own account and release requirements. Apple and Google decide approval and timing. AppBuilder does not automatically upload to TestFlight or Google Play, submit for review, or guarantee approval.

First setup

1. Open the app in Shopify Admin. The dashboard shows your saved setup progress, configuration state, recent builds and release checks.
2. Open Sales Channel to connect the channel, check product publication and run the catalog sync. Only products available to the app's channel can be shopped.
3. Open Setup guide to create a starting draft. Guided chat and Brand-to-App generation can help with layout, theme and listing text. Review the result.
4. Use App Builder, Content, or Templates to refine it. Save your draft, then publish the design you want connected shoppers to load.
5. Open Publish and follow the web or native path. Closing the setup guide does not complete signing, push setup, a build, an upload or store review.

Setup and build duration vary. If a request has an unknown outcome, refresh its status before requesting another build or message send.

Generate and review a draft

Use Brand-to-App in the app builder to create a draft from your store catalog and brand colors. Review its screens in the preview before publishing.

The standard generator validates visible text using the preview renderer’s supported fields. Blank text blocks and generic fallback heroes fail validation before they can replace your draft. Generated Shop buttons open the draft’s catalog screen. If generation cannot produce a valid draft, your existing draft is preserved.

Generation allowance

Free stores retain one generation per calendar month. Paid stores use their existing AI allowance. Generation does not publish your app. Custom block generation remains unavailable.

Design your app

App Builder arranges screens, navigation tabs and content blocks, with a phone preview. Use the property fields to supply real product references, collection handles and destinations. Some fields still require these values to be entered manually. Preview samples show the design; they do not reserve a delivery slot or prove a live checkout.

Content manages banners, collections and campaign pages. Templates provides starting layouts and brand adaptation. Creative studio includes the tools your plan permits: seasonal looks, catalog copy, rewards configuration, media generation. Generated text and images need your review. Catalog enrichment changes app-facing content; it does not rewrite Shopify products.

Migration maps supported layout/theme information from an uploaded or pasted configuration export. Review mapped and skipped items, warnings and the resulting draft. It does not transfer your previous builder's shopper data or recreate every unsupported feature.

AI surfaces shows optional shopping features and their availability. Settings controls feature preferences, brand assets and app identity. A feature can require a higher plan, an enabled preference, enough usage allowance, and a ready connection.

Supported layout and content changes can be published without rebuilding the native shell. Connected apps load the new configuration; an offline app may retain an older version. Native code, build-time identity and some credential changes require a new build and the applicable platform review.

Shopping features and connections

Depending on your plan and settings, add personalized product suggestions, search, shopping assistance, a product quiz, review summaries, wishlists, bundles, rewards, referrals and an inbox. Products and provider results depend on the data available to your store. The placement preview lets shoppers drag and resize a product image on a plain background; it is not a live-camera augmented-reality feature.

Integrations checks optional app connections. Photo search requires a ready SearchIQ connection and Growth or above. Optional SupportIQ answers are read-only; AppBuilder does not issue refunds or cancel orders through the assistant. Other connections can add auctions, membership, inventory or shared wishlist information. A disconnected service can leave its feature unavailable.

Local delivery and pickup

Open Features → Local delivery & pickup to create a local-shopping draft. Open Integrations → VendorIQ connection to check the connection before relying on it. The local-shopping connection is available only where VendorIQ is configured and ready. DeliveryIQ does not currently supply this AppBuilder flow.

You can design vendor browsing, delivery availability, menus, delivery/pickup slots, order timelines, tracking and reorder sections. VendorIQ supplies the operating rules and current results. Test these features in a connected shopper build. A displayed estimate is not a booked window; an expired or changed reservation must be checked again before checkout.

Signed-in order history uses the shopper's own Shopify account. Connected tracking, reorder and delivery actions also need a verified link to that purchase and store. Disable local shopping in Settings or remove the related blocks and publish when you are not ready to offer it.

Messages, retention and growth

Push prepares, schedules and sends campaigns to eligible registered devices. AI can draft copy; delivery still requires working credentials, shopper permission, plan allowance and provider acceptance. An accepted send is not proof the shopper received or opened it. Use recorded results before deciding to retry.

Shopper inbox sends persistent in-app messages to known shoppers, or an eligible saved audience. Wishlist shows saved products and back-in-stock requests. Restock alerts remain subject to consent, limits and provider readiness. Bundles creates product discovery sets; a saved set does not add all its items to the cart or create a checkout discount. Referrals configures share codes and loyalty-backed rewards.

Audiences saves targeting rules using available shopper activity and scores. Recompute membership when needed; a stored count may reflect an earlier calculation. Install campaigns prepares QR links, a storefront banner and promotional assets, and reports recorded funnel events. Announcement email needs a configured provider and recipient. SMS announcement text is copy for your own messaging workflow, not an AppBuilder SMS-delivery promise.

Install growth drafts store-listing text and acquisition plans. Review listing copy and assets before using them in a store console. It does not guarantee installs or make a listing automatically ready for submission.

Analytics, experiments and automation

Analytics reports available app metrics. Insights adds funnel, retention and attribution views on Growth and above. Growth Copilot helps interpret available metrics and stage supported actions.

Verified revenue starts only after Shopify grants access to the channel's own orders and its paid-order connection is ready. Until then, verified revenue stays at $0. App activity can still be recorded. A device event is not proof of money received, and an empty store can have insufficient data for an optimization decision. Check Sales Channel for the current reporting status.

Home-layout experiments lets you deliberately compare a saved home draft with the live layout using a 50/50 shopper split, then pause, resume or promote it. Merchandising configures product rules. Optimize uses measured outcomes; its guarded automatic promotion needs verified paid-order evidence.

Autopilot & Insights shows automation runs, pending approvals and a weekly brief inside the app. Growth uses assisted suggestions; Scale and above can enable eligible automatic actions. Review outcomes and approvals. A sent notification cannot be recalled. The weekly brief is not a promised weekly email.

Publish and test

For the web app, complete the Publish checks and generate it, then open its live link on a real phone. Browser wording varies: Android commonly offers Install app or Add to Home screen; on iPhone/iPad, Safari's Share menu offers Add to Home Screen. Web notifications depend on browser support and permission.

For native apps, enter the requested identity, signing and push credentials in the protected fields. Never email private keys, tokens, passwords or signing files. Choose full shopper accounts only after creating the store-owned Mobile public client shown in the setup instructions. Browse-and-checkout mode leaves account-only screens disabled.

Run preflight, request the build, and wait for Artifact ready. Download the signed iOS package or Android package. Your authorized team uploads it, checks that the exact build finishes processing, completes store metadata and submits it. A preview Android package is for testing and does not prove store release or push.

Add the store's install banner

Add Get the App in Shopify's theme editor. Choose the heading, subheading, button label, layout, colors, badges and optional benefits list. Review any custom wording against the features actually enabled for your store. The block uses your published destination; it stays hidden when it has no valid destination to show. Remove the block in the theme editor to stop showing it.

Temporary storefront pause

This control is available after the reviewed presentation-control release. Contact support for help with a storefront incident.

On a fresh page load, a support-controlled presentation pause hides the Get the App banner and QR card. Merchant app settings are retained. This control applies to the storefront install block; existing native apps and PWAs continue through their existing delivery paths.

Reload an already-open page to observe the pause or restoration. Contact support if a widget remains visible. Support restores the original widget using its retained settings after verification.

Billing and allowances

Open Billing for the current price, trial eligibility, plan features and usage before approving a Shopify charge. The table below reflects the source catalog; the live billing card and Shopify approval screen govern a purchase.

All plans have finite AI concurrency and provider limits. Lite adds web publishing, web push and selected shopping features; Starter adds native builds and chat-first shopping. Growth adds growth tools, experiments and selected connected experiences; Scale adds eligible automatic merchandising, media generation and image placement. A plan entitlement does not replace credentials, merchant preferences or readiness.

Get help

Use the Sales Channel help link or support page. For launch assistance, the Growth Services page offers service booking. Include your store domain, the page, what you expected and what happened when emailing support. Hide sensitive values in screenshots. There is no promised setup time, revenue uplift, delivery time or store approval.