Turning your Lovable, Replit or Bolt app into an iPhone and Android app

A prototype built in Lovable, Replit or Bolt can become a real iPhone and Android app, published on the App Store and Google Play. It’s rebuilt as one app that runs on iPhone, Android and the web, on a proper backend. The prototype is the specification it’s built from.

I’m a developer in Sydney, and this is how I build apps: React Native with Expo, one codebase for all three.

Why the app is rebuilt, not converted

A Lovable, Replit or Bolt prototype is usually a web app that runs in the browser. A phone app needs its screens built for the phone. And the prototype’s data usually lives in the browser too, on one device.

So the prototype’s code isn’t carried over. What carries over is everything the prototype has settled: every screen, flow and rule. Working that out is usually about a third of the effort of building an app, and the prototype has done it.

One app for iPhone, Android and the web

I build the app once, in React Native with Expo. The same codebase runs as an iPhone app, an Android app and a web app in the browser. All three use one backend, so a person’s login and data are the same on every device.

A fix or a new feature goes into one codebase, not three.

What the phone app needs that the prototype doesn’t

• A backend: a real database, logins, and the app’s rules on a server. See turn a vibe-coded prototype into an app with logins and a backend.
• An Apple developer account and a Google Play developer account.
• Store listings: the name, description, screenshots and a privacy policy.
• Each store’s review before the app goes live.
• Notifications on the phone, if the app needs them.

Wrapping the website in an app frame

Some tools put a website inside an app frame. Apple’s App Store guidelines say an app should go beyond a repackaged website, so a thin wrapper can be rejected. A wrapped prototype also keeps the prototype’s problems underneath: data kept in the browser, and rules that live where users can change them.

FAQ

Do I lose the web version? No. The same app keeps running in the browser, so people without the phone app can still use it.

Whose name is the app published under? Your company’s, when the Apple and Google developer accounts are in its name. If I host and run the app for you, it can be published under my accounts, which keeps the cost down. See getting your app onto the App Store and Google Play.

How long does it take? It depends on what the app does and what it needs behind the screens. I look at the prototype first, then give a timeline.

What does it cost? It depends on what the app needs behind the screens. I don’t publish prices: I look at the prototype first, then quote. See how much it costs to build an iPhone and Android app.