How to get a Lovable or Bolt app into the App Store

Why does Lovable have no App Store button?

Because it produces websites. Lovable's FAQ answers the question directly: it builds web applications that you can design to be fully mobile friendly, and it does not generate React Native projects. A website is not an iOS app, so either something has to wrap it in one, or you build a different app.

The same FAQ lists the two ways to get an installable phone app out of a Lovable project. You can make the published app a Progressive Web App that users add to their home screen. Or you can wrap the published URL with a tool outside Lovable, with Capacitor named as the example, and submit that to the App Store or Play Store. That is paths 1 and 2 below. Lovable also ships its own iPhone and Android app, but that is a way to keep building from your phone, and Lovable's FAQ says it is different from turning a project into a mobile app.

One detail changes how you wrap it. Lovable's docs say that since 13 May 2026 new projects use TanStack Start, which renders pages on a server. Older projects use React with Vite. The hosting guide says the older apps build to static files that any static host can serve, while TanStack Start apps need a host that runs a server. Capacitor ships a folder of static files inside the app, so which stack your project uses decides how much work step 2 of the Capacitor route is.

Bolt splits differently. Its web projects have the same gap, and the docs say they do not easily switch over to mobile. Its Expo integration, which builds a real React Native app, is a separate project type you choose at the first prompt. That is path 3.

The four paths, side by side

Mac and Xcode requirements are from Capacitor's docs. The Bolt route is from Bolt's Expo page, and EAS cloud builds are from Expo's docs. Time is the work on your side, not Apple's review. The $99 is Apple's Developer Program fee per membership year. Prices as of October 2026.

Which path should you take?

The right path depends on three facts: the tool you used, whether you own a Mac, and whether the App Store listing is a hard requirement.

Path 1: can a PWA stand in for the App Store?

It can stand in for the icon, not for the listing. A PWA is your Lovable or Bolt site with a manifest and icons, added to the Home Screen. Apple's Safari guide for iPhone covers it: open the site in Safari, tap Share, choose Add to Home Screen, and leave Open as Web App switched on. The icon then opens the site like an app, and the web app can send notifications.

That is enough for an internal tool, a client portal or a launch where people arrive from a link. It is the wrong path if your plan depends on App Store search, ratings or a listing a customer can find without you. A PWA never goes through App Review, which also means it never meets Guideline 4.2. There is nothing to reject and nothing to approve.

Ask Lovable or Bolt to add a web app manifest and icons, publish, then install it on your own phone. If your testers ask where the real app is, you are on path 2, 3 or 4.

What does Apple say about wrapped websites?

Guideline 4.2, Minimum Functionality, in the App Store Review Guidelines, opens with this line:

“Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website.”

Apple, App Review Guidelines, 4.2 Minimum Functionality, read 27 October 2026

The paragraph goes on to say that an app which is not particularly useful, unique or app-like does not belong on the App Store. Apple does not use the words Capacitor, wrapper or webview in it. The test is what the app does for the person holding the phone. A shell that loads your Lovable site and adds nothing is the repackaged website the guideline describes. The same shell with push notifications, camera capture and native haptics gives a reviewer something that a bookmark cannot do. Our full breakdown of the rule is in minimum functionality rejection, and the technology side is in React Native versus a wrapped website.

A second rule matters for any builder. Guideline 4.2.6 says apps created from an app generation service are rejected unless they are submitted directly by the provider of the app's content. The practical meaning is simple: the app is yours, the Apple Developer account is yours, and you press Submit for Review yourself. That is how every route on this page works.

Path 2: how do you wrap a Lovable app with Capacitor?

Capacitor adds a native iOS project around your built web app. It works, and it is the route Lovable's FAQ names. Plan for a Mac. Capacitor's docs say you need macOS to build iOS apps, and that Capacitor 8 needs Xcode 26.0 or newer and Node 22 or higher.

1. Enrol in the Apple Developer Program. Apple charges 99 USD per membership year.
2. Sync the project to GitHub. Lovable supports GitHub sync, and the repo is what you build from.
3. Get a static build. Capacitor needs a folder of built files with an index.html at its root. An older React and Vite project gives you that from its normal build. A TanStack Start project does not by default. TanStack's SPA mode renders a static shell for client-side apps, but it saves it as _shell.html unless you change the path, so check what lands in your output folder.
4. Add Capacitor and the iOS platform. Set webDir to your build folder when npx cap init asks.
5. Open the project in Xcode. npx cap open ios opens it, or open ios/App/App.xcworkspace yourself.
6. Add native features. Capacitor's official plugins include Camera, Push Notifications and Haptics. Pick the ones your users would miss if they were removed, and make them part of the main flow.
7. Sign, archive and upload in Xcode, then create the listing in App Store Connect, attach the build and submit for review.

npm i @capacitor/core
npm i -D @capacitor/cli
npx cap init
npm i @capacitor/ios
npx cap add ios
npx cap sync
npx cap open ios

Two honest costs sit in that list. The first is the Mac. If you do not own one, you rent a cloud Mac or borrow time on one, and our guide to building an iOS app without a Mac covers the options. The second is step 6. A wrapper with no native features is the version of this path Guideline 4.2 describes, and it is where most of the review risk sits.

Your app also lives in two places after this. Every change in Lovable means a new static build, a sync and a new Xcode upload, because the web assets sit inside the app.

Path 3: can Bolt.new publish to the App Store?

Yes, for mobile projects. Bolt uses Expo so one codebase runs on iPhone and Android, and the output is a React Native app. You preview it by scanning a QR code in Expo Go from Bolt's Device Preview. To ship it, Bolt's docs have you install the EAS CLI, log in to your Expo account and run one command.

eas build --platform ios --auto-submit

Per the docs, EAS builds the app, creates the app listing in your Apple Developer account, sets up a TestFlight testing group and submits the build for internal testing. When you are ready for the public, you fill in the details in App Store Connect and submit for review. Expo's docs say iOS builds run on macOS runners in Expo's cloud, so this path needs no Mac. You do need an Expo account and an Apple Developer account, and the docs note that build failures often come down to certificate setup in your Apple or Google accounts.

The catch is the starting point. Bolt's docs tell you to say mobile app in your first prompt, because web projects do not easily switch over to mobile. If your Bolt project is a web app, you are not on path 3 yet. You either wrap it (path 2) or recreate it as a mobile project, in Bolt or in Newly (path 4). Expo published its own walkthrough of taking a Bolt app to the App Store with a single command, which is a good second reference for this route.

Bolt's own pricing, as of October 2026, is a free plan with 1M tokens a month and a Pro plan at $25 a month for 10M tokens. For how Bolt and Newly compare on the rest of the job, see Bolt.new for mobile apps.

Path 4: how do you rebuild a Lovable or Bolt app as a native app?

You describe it to Newly, and Newly builds the native version. Newly is an AI app builder that writes a complete React Native app and adds its own backend when the app needs one. You recreate the app from its description, screens and data, and you get real native screens instead of a website in a frame. That removes the 4.2 question at the source, and the cloud build removes the Mac.

The data model carries over. Newly Backend gives the app sign-in, an API, a Postgres database and file storage, and Lovable's backend runs on Supabase, which is Postgres underneath. The tables, sign-in and rules you designed there are the same shape you describe here. Your Lovable site can stay up as the web version while the native app goes to the store.

1. Write down the app in screens. For each screen, note what the person sees, what they tap and what data it reads or writes. Your Lovable or Bolt prompts are a good start.
2. Describe it to Newly in plain English. It writes the React Native app and adds Newly Backend (sign-in, a Postgres database and file storage) when the app needs shared data.
3. Preview it live. It runs on iOS and Android cloud simulators in your browser. For your own iPhone, send a build to TestFlight.
4. Use what the phone offers. Ask for push notifications, camera, biometrics or offline behaviour wherever they help the person using the app.
5. Join the Apple Developer Program. It is $99 a year, and the account is yours.
6. Let Newly do the signing and the upload. Ask the agent to publish to TestFlight and sign in to Apple in the card. Newly creates the app record, registers the bundle ID, builds on a cloud Mac, signs and uploads in about 10 to 25 minutes. That upload is also what puts the build in TestFlight.
7. Finish the listing and submit. Add screenshots, description and age rating in App Store Connect, pick the build and press Submit for Review from your own account.

For Android, Newly builds a standalone APK and publishes to Google Play internal testing, which needs a Google Play developer account at $25 one time. You own 100% of the source code: download a ZIP or keep it in sync with your own GitHub repository. Plans start at $25 a month. If you want the exact steps after the build exists, they are in how to submit an AI-built app to the App Store and how to publish an AI-built app. For a side-by-side with Lovable itself, see Lovable for mobile apps.

What it costs overall depends on how many times you iterate, so budget with vibe coding costs open. As of October 2026, Lovable Pro starts at $25 a month for 100 credits, and Newly plans start at $25 a month.

Questions people ask about taking a Lovable or Bolt app to the App Store