Your App builder turns the website you already have into a little phone app people can add to their home screen — for your business, that's tappable services, a booking with a time picker, and your opening hours. Honest heads-up before you start: this is an installable web app (a PWA), not an Apple/Google App Store app by default — it installs straight from a link with no store approval. Putting it *on* the stores is a separate, clearly-priced step, covered at the end.
Open App builder in your dashboard menu. There's a live phone preview on one side and simple controls on the other. Two ways to learn it: tap Show me how for a short guided tour that points at each real button (tailored to your kind of business), or read on.
The fast path — three steps
You can have a real, shareable app from just these three:
- Pick a template. Choose the one closest to your business. It opens a finished, editable app in the phone — nothing is blank.
- Make it yours. Add your business name, your logo and one main colour so it looks like you.
- Publish and share. One tap puts it live, and you get a code and link to share so anyone can add it to their phone.
Everything below is optional polish on top of those three.
Fill it with your services
In the builder open Screens → Connect your data. Connect Square Appointments to keep your services and bookings in step — a real two-way link — or add services by hand. Prefer Calendly? It's tucked under “use a different system,” and honestly it just opens your own Calendly page — it isn't an in-app sync. This is the one place that fills this app; you'll never be shown a menu or property listings.
Every booking request lands in your Appointments to confirm. We only ever show a live sync when it's genuinely connected — never a fake feed.
Every button, in plain words
- Make it yours (brand) — your app's name, logo and main colour.
- Your screens and the row of buttons at the bottom — rename screens, reorder them, and choose what each bottom button does (open a screen, call you, show a map, and so on). A button with nothing set stays hidden, so there are never dead buttons.
- Connect your data — the one place above where your real content comes in.
- Your app's web address — the link people install from. Keep the free one or, on paid plans, use your own.
- Your app's look — its own light or dark style, colour and font, separate from your website if you like.
- The opening (splash) screen — the little welcome screen shown while the app opens; add your logo or a photo, or turn it off.
- Publish — makes the app live. Nothing is shared until you do this.
- Share and install — your QR code and link; people Add to Home Screen and your app sits beside their other apps.
- Notifications — optional pings to people who installed it. Honest note: this is a paid feature, and on iPhones it only works after someone has added the app to their home screen — that's an Apple rule, not us.
- Put it on the app stores — an optional, separate and clearly-costed step if you want a true Apple/Google Store listing. Skip it and your app still works perfectly from the link.
- App health — a quick check that your app has what it needs (an icon, a name, at least one screen) before you share it.
Three kinds of owner
The steps are the same for everyone — here's what changes in practice:
- A small shop or family business. Stick to the fast three steps. Add your items by hand, publish, and print the QR code for your counter. You don't need the store listing or notifications to get real value.
- A student or first-timer. Everything is free to try, and the guided tour walks you through it. Publishing is instant and undoable — you can keep editing after it's live, so there's no "wrong" button to fear.
- A company with many locations. Each location's site is its own app — you switch between sites at the top of your dashboard, and settings never mix between them. Build one, get it right, then repeat per location; a paid plan adds your own web address and can put team members on approvals.
The honest small print
- It's a PWA, not a native App Store app, unless you take the separate paid store step.
- Notifications are paid, and on iPhone need the app added to the home screen first.
- Payments and bookings run on your OWN systems — your payment account, your booking tool, your donation page. The app collects the request or sends people to your own checkout; we never hold your money.
- Connectors are labeled truthfully: a real two-way sync, a read-only live feed, or an "opens your own page" link — never dressed up as more than it is.
Ready? Open the App builder and start with a template. For your website itself, see Pick a template and Publish your website.