Shopify Mobile App: Turn Your Store Into a Native App

Why Your Shopify Store Needs a Mobile App

Mobile commerce is no longer a trend—it is the default. In 2025, mobile accounted for roughly 59% of all ecommerce sales globally, generating approximately $4 trillion in transactions. By 2026, mobile is expected to handle 78% of global ecommerce traffic. For Shopify merchants specifically, the numbers are even more skewed toward mobile.

The Shopify Mobile Conversion Gap

Here is the core problem: 79% of all Shopify store traffic comes from mobile devices, but mobile web conversion rates average just 1.2%—compared to 1.9% on desktop. That 0.7 percentage point gap might sound small, but at scale it adds up fast. A store doing $50,000/month in revenue could be leaving $29,000+ on the table annually simply because the mobile shopping experience is not optimized.

Mobile Apps Close the Gap

Native mobile apps deliver 157% higher conversion rates than mobile websites on average. App users also spend 2.4x longer per session and place orders that are 20% higher in value. Users spend 87% of their mobile time inside apps rather than browsers, which means a native app puts your store where customers naturally are.

Sources: Venn Apps, Appbrew, MobiLoud

Push Notifications: The Revenue Channel You Are Missing

The single biggest revenue driver of a Shopify mobile app is not the app itself—it is push notifications. Unlike email (which averages 15–25% open rates) or SMS (which carries per-message costs), push notifications are free to send and achieve significantly higher engagement.

Push Notification Performance for Ecommerce

• ✓48% of consumers have made a purchase after receiving a push notification (MobiLoud)
• ✓Average ecommerce push CTR: 3.05% on iOS, 3.78% on Android (Pushwoosh)
• ✓Segmented push notifications reach CTRs of up to 10.36%
• ✓Back-in-stock alerts can achieve click-through rates of up to 54% (Pushwoosh)
• ✓Brands report generating $10K–$200K/month from abandoned cart push notifications alone (MobiLoud)

Why This Matters for Your Store

Web push notifications exist, but they are severely limited: Safari on iOS does not support them reliably, opt-in rates are low, and browsers aggressively block notification prompts. Native app push notifications bypass all of these limitations—they are delivered directly by Apple (APNs) and Google (FCM) with near-100% delivery rates.

What Shopify Offers for Mobile (and What It Doesn't)

Before exploring third-party solutions, it is worth understanding what Shopify itself provides for mobile. Shopify offers two apps and an API, but none of them give merchants a fully branded, native shopping experience.

The Shop App

Shopify's consumer-facing Shop App is a shopping assistant for order tracking and product discovery. While it serves a purpose for consumers, it has significant limitations for merchants:

• ✗No custom branding — customers see “Shop” branding, not your store's brand identity
• ✗Shared marketplace — your products appear alongside competitors inside the Shop App
• ✗Limited customization — no control over layout, design, or the customer journey
• ✗Limited data access — less direct access to user behavior data compared to owning your own app

The Shopify Storefront API

Shopify provides a Storefront API for building custom mobile experiences. This is what large brands like Gymshark use to power their apps. The catch? Building a custom app on the Storefront API typically costs $100,000+ per year and takes 6–12 months to launch with a dedicated engineering team.

Shopify Uses React Native Internally

Interestingly, Shopify itself uses React Native for its own mobile applications. After five years with the framework, they have documented significant productivity gains and continue to invest in it. This is the same technology that powers apps from Discord, Instagram, and Coinbase—and the same framework that Natively uses to generate your apps.

Top Shopify Mobile App Builders Compared (2026)

There are over a dozen Shopify app builders on the market. Below is a deep dive into the six most popular options, with current pricing and an honest assessment of each.

Tapcart

Tapcart is the most well-known Shopify app builder, used by over 80 DTC brands. It offers a drag-and-drop App Studio for designing native iOS and Android apps that sync in real-time with your Shopify catalog.

Tapcart Pricing

• •Core: $200/month + 2.5% commission on in-app sales
• •Ultimate: $400/month + lower commission rate, custom PDP builder
• •Enterprise: $1,000/month + dedicated CSM

The Commission Issue

The 2.5% success fee on the Core plan is the elephant in the room. A store doing $50,000/month in in-app sales would pay $1,250/month in commission alone—on top of the $200 subscription. At $100,000/month, that is $2,500 in commission fees, bringing the effective monthly cost to $2,700. This fee structure means Tapcart gets more expensive precisely as your app succeeds.

Shopney

Shopney is Tapcart's main direct competitor, offering native iOS and Android apps with a key differentiator: no commission fees on any plan.

Shopney Pricing

• •Silver: $149/month — 7 design elements, unlimited push
• •Gold: $299/month — 20 design elements, abandoned cart notifications, multi-language
• •Platinum: $599/month — unlimited elements, segmented push
• •Enterprise: $1,299/month — multi-store, Appsflyer/Adjust

Shopney Strengths and Weaknesses

The zero-commission model makes Shopney more predictable at scale than Tapcart. It also includes in-app live chat on all plans. The main limitation is that lower tiers restrict the number of design elements, which constrains how much you can customize your app's layout. Advanced features like segmented push notifications and loyalty programs require the $599+ plans.

MobiLoud

MobiLoud takes a fundamentally different approach: it wraps your existing Shopify website in a native shell using WebView technology. This means any change you make to your website is instantly reflected in the app.

MobiLoud Pricing

• •Startup: $350/month + $1,500 one-time setup — up to 1,000 active users
• •Growth: $650/month + $2,500 setup — up to 10,000 users
• •Corporate: ~$949+/month + setup — scales at $50 per 1,000 users above 10K

The WebView Trade-off

MobiLoud's approach means zero maintenance (website changes auto-reflect) and 100% feature parity with your site. However, WebView apps load in 5–6 seconds compared to under 1 second for true native apps. The experience feels like browsing a website inside an app, which can lead to higher bounce rates and faces scrutiny from Apple's App Store review (Guideline 4.2 discourages apps that are simply repackaged websites).

Vajro (Superfans)

Vajro (recently rebranded as Superfans) is notable for its live video selling feature—a standout capability for brands doing live commerce. Plans start at $99/month (Starter), $249/month (Core), and $499/month (Premium). The Starter plan limits you to 10 push campaigns per month, which is restrictive for active marketing.

Plobal Apps

Plobal Apps targets mid-market and enterprise merchants with AI-based product recommendations, live selling, and advanced analytics. Their Growth plan starts at $199/month ($166 billed annually). The interface can be overwhelming for smaller merchants, and pricing for higher tiers is not publicly listed.

MageNative

For budget-conscious merchants, MageNative offers the lowest entry point among dedicated Shopify app builders at just $49/month. Higher tiers run $69/month (Growth) and $99/month (Enterprise). The trade-off is fewer design options and integrations compared to premium competitors.

Shopify App Builder Pricing Comparison

Here is a side-by-side pricing comparison of every major Shopify app builder, based on publicly listed prices as of February 2026. All solutions additionally require an Apple Developer Account ($99/year) and Google Play Developer Account ($25 one-time).

How Commission Fees Add Up

Commission-based pricing deserves special attention because it creates a hidden tax on success. Here is what Tapcart's 2.5% Core plan commission looks like at different revenue levels over 12 months:

Based on Tapcart Core plan ($200/month + 2.5% commission). Prices as of February 2026.

WebView Wrappers vs Native Apps: Why the Approach Matters

Not all Shopify app builders create the same type of app. Understanding the technical approach each builder uses is critical because it directly impacts your app's performance, user experience, and whether Apple will approve it.

Three Technical Approaches

1. WebView Wrappers (MobiLoud)

WebView wrappers display your existing website inside a native app shell. The app uses WKWebView (iOS) or WebView (Android) to load and render your web pages. A thin native layer adds push notifications, tab bars, and OS communication. This is the fastest route to an app but delivers a web-like experience with 5–6 second load times.

2. Template-Based Native Builders (Tapcart, Shopney, Vajro)

These platforms provide a drag-and-drop editor where you assemble your app from pre-built blocks and templates. They generate true native code that renders native UI components, delivering 1–3 second load times. The trade-off is limited customization—you can only use the blocks and layouts they provide.

3. AI-Generated Native Apps (Natively)

This is the newest approach. Instead of dragging and dropping pre-built blocks, you describe what you want in plain English and AI generates complete native React Native code. The result is a fully custom native app with sub-1-second loads, no template restrictions, and full source code ownership.

Side-by-Side Technical Comparison

Apple's Guideline 4.2 and WebView Apps

Apple's App Store Review Guideline 4.2 states that apps should not simply be repackaged websites. While WebView apps can and do get approved, they face a higher rejection rate than true native apps. If Apple determines your app does not provide enough native functionality beyond what Safari already offers, your submission can be rejected.

What This Means for Your Shopify App

If you choose a WebView-based solution, understand that your app is technically a browser displaying your website. This works for some merchants, but if you want the fastest performance, the richest user experience, and the lowest App Store rejection risk, a true native approach is the better investment.

The Natively Approach: AI-Generated Native Apps

Natively is a different kind of mobile app builder. Instead of dragging and dropping template blocks, you describe your app in plain English and AI generates complete, production-ready React Native code. This is the same technology that powers Shopify's own apps, Discord, Instagram, and nearly 30% of the top 100 apps on the App Store.

How Natively Compares to Shopify App Builders

An Honest Assessment

Natively is not a plug-and-play Shopify integration like Tapcart or Shopney. Those tools sync directly with your Shopify product catalog and have built-in checkout flows. With Natively, you connect to your Shopify store through the Storefront API, which requires describing the integration you want to the AI. This is more work upfront, but the result is a fully custom app that you own outright.

When Natively Makes the Most Sense for Shopify

• ✓You want a fully custom shopping experience beyond template limitations
• ✓You need features beyond ecommerce (loyalty programs, community, content, custom workflows)
• ✓You want to own your source code rather than be locked into a platform
• ✓You are budget-conscious and want to avoid $150–$1,000/month platform fees
• ✓You want zero commission fees regardless of your revenue

Shopify App Cost Calculator

Use this interactive calculator to estimate your total cost across different Shopify app builders. Adjust your expected monthly in-app revenue and time period to see how subscription fees, commissions, and setup costs add up.

How to Build a Shopify Mobile App with Natively

If you have decided to take the AI-generated route, here is a step-by-step walkthrough of building a Shopify mobile app with Natively.

Step 1: Describe Your Shopping App

Open Natively and describe the app you want. Be specific about your store's needs. For example: “Build me a mobile shopping app with a home screen showing featured products, category browsing, product detail pages with image galleries, a cart, and checkout. Connect it to my Shopify store via the Storefront API. Include push notifications for order updates and promotions.”

Step 2: AI Generates Your Native App

The AI generates a complete React Native application with screens, navigation, product displays, cart functionality, and Shopify API integration. The output uses Expo SDK 54 with native UI components—not a web wrapper. Each prompt takes about 5 minutes. A fully featured shopping app typically requires 50–100 prompts.

Step 3: Preview and Iterate

Scan a QR code with Expo Go to preview your app on a real phone. Test the shopping flow, refine the design, and add features through the same conversational AI interface. You can also use the built-in code editor for direct modifications or export to GitHub for custom development.

Step 4: Build and Deploy

Use the built-in APK builder to generate an Android APK with one click. For iOS, deploy via Expo Launch to handle builds, code signing, and App Store submission automatically. No Mac required. No Xcode. No Android Studio.

What About Ongoing Maintenance?

Since your Shopify product catalog is served via the Storefront API, product changes in Shopify are reflected in your app automatically—no app update needed. For feature updates and design changes, return to Natively and describe what you want changed, or edit the code directly.

Integration Capabilities

Because Natively generates standard React Native code, you can integrate any service that offers a JavaScript/React Native SDK or REST API. This includes payment processors (Stripe, Apple Pay), analytics (PostHog, Mixpanel), customer support (Zendesk, Intercom), and marketing tools (Klaviyo, Segment).

Full Source Code Export

At any point, you can download your complete source code as a ZIP file or sync it to GitHub. The code is clean, standard React Native and TypeScript—any React Native developer can work with it. You are never locked into Natively. If you decide to move to a custom development team later, your code comes with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start Building Your Shopify Mobile App

The data is clear: your Shopify customers are on mobile, and a native app converts significantly better than mobile web. The only question is which approach fits your budget, technical needs, and long-term goals.

If you want a plug-and-play Shopify app with minimal setup, Tapcart and Shopney are solid choices—just be prepared for $150–$1,000/month in platform fees (and commission in Tapcart's case). If you want full control, code ownership, and the lowest cost, Natively lets you build a true native app with AI for a fraction of the price.