How to put your website on the App Store, and what it really takes

Getting a business into the App Store and Google Play is a project, not a button. Apple’s guideline 4.2 rejects apps that simply repackage a website, both stores require developer accounts with identity checks, and every release involves building, testing on real phones, writing store listings and passing review. If what you want is your business on customers’ home screens, an installable website gets you most of the way with none of that. The table under this article lays out the steps with who does each and how long they usually take.

Step one: give the app a job

Ask what a customer would do in the app that they cannot do as easily on the website. For a restaurant or shop, that is ordering, paying, seeing when an order is ready and reordering. For a gym, booking classes. For a club, member information. If the honest answer is nothing, the app will struggle in review and nobody will open it twice. The page on Apple guideline 4.2 explains what reviewers look for.

Step two: the developer accounts

Apple’s developer programme costs 99 US dollars a year; organisations also need a D-U-N-S number, which can take days to arrive. Google Play charges 25 US dollars once and verifies your identity. Apps made with builders must be submitted by the business under its own account, not by the builder. Start these early, because they are the slowest part. The pages on Apple’s programme cost and Google Play verification cover the details.

Step three: build the app

There are two broad routes. A wrapper puts your live website pages inside a native shell, adding a few native touches; it is quick but closest to what 4.2 dislikes, so it suits sites with real ordering. A native app is written for phones, often with React Native and Expo, sharing your website’s data; it takes longer but feels at home on the phone. Either way, keep the app name and the bundle ID settled before the first release.

Step four: testing

Test on real phones, both iPhone and Android, with real orders or bookings. New personal Google Play accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before applying for production. Recruit regular customers and staff early.

Step five: listings and review

Each store needs a description, screenshots for several screen sizes, privacy details about the data you collect, a support address and often a test account for reviewers. Review usually takes days. If an app is rejected, read the reason carefully, fix the cause and resubmit with a note.

Step six: keeping it up to date

A wrapped app carries a copy of your pages at the time of the build, so new pages or a new design need a new build and store release. A native app needs updates as phone systems change. Budget a few hours every few months, more if the business changes often.

The cheaper alternative

An installable website, or PWA, adds a home screen icon, a full screen window and an offline page to your existing site, updated every time you publish, with no developer accounts, fees or review. It does not appear in store search. For most small businesses, it is the right first step. The PWA versus native app comparison sets the two side by side.

How OneCraft handles each route

Any published site can be installable; it is on by default for store and menu sites. For store presence there are two routes. The app export builds a Capacitor project of a live store or menu site, or any site with its store on, for 2 credits on paid plans, with icons, a splash screen, Stripe Checkout in the system browser and a README with the store steps; you add the iOS and Android folders and submit. In Code mode, the AI writes a native Expo app from the same site, previewed in a phone frame, which you build and submit with EAS. The store checklist in settings repeats the fees, Apple’s 4.2 and 4.2.6, and Google’s testing rule, and OneCraft never submits for you. See turning a website into a mobile app and the AI mobile app builder.