How to convert your Shopify store into a mobile app in 2025?

Mobile apps have opened new dimensions and unlocked new avenues of growth and success for businesses. E-commerce has started evolving into m-commerce (mobile commerce) and the number of mobile app-based shoppers is constantly increasing.

People are using apps for a variety of activities in their daily lives, and businesses are harnessing them to expand their presence and grow. You have already won half the battle if you also own a Shopify store.

Now, launching an app with a Shopify app builder will unlock new opportunities for you. So, stay tuned and learn how you can turn your Shopify store into a mobile app.

In this blog

1. Shopify: the ultimate eCommerce solution
2. How to turn your Shopify store into a mobile app?
   
3. How to promote your Shopify app?
4. How can AppMySite help you with Shopify app development?
5. Frequently asked questions

Shopify: the ultimate eCommerce solution

Data Source: Imp Marketing

Essentially, Shopify can be defined as an eCommerce website builder. It has emerged as the ultimate eCommerce solution for businesses that aspire to go online and reach customers worldwide.

It is easy to build an online store with Shopify and the user-friendly features make it a top choice amongst e-commerce CMS platforms. According to BuiltWith, around 7,752,991 (7.7+ million) websites have been created using Shopify so far. Around 4,794,511 (4.7+ million) Shopify websites are live on the web.

In the year 2023, Shopify’s revenue stood at around 7.06 billion US dollars which was a 26 percent increase from Financial Year 2022. With merchants located across 175 countries around the world, Shopify’s prominence is likely to continue increasing.

Notably, one of the most interesting statistics is that 81 percent of Shopify traffic comes from mobile according to Tapcart. More than 70 percent of orders are also placed via mobile devices. This underscores the importance of mobile optimization, especially in the U.S. market where mobile commerce is prevalent.

This, coupled with the fact that more users prefer mobile apps to shop these days, further intensifies the need for an app solution for your Shopify-based e-commerce business. Undoubtedly, Shopify is a wide market, and with a fully-featured app, you can strengthen your reach, performance, and engagement.

How to build a Shopify app?

Let us cut to the chase and understand how you can build your Shopify app. It is obvious that you must build your app with absolute perfection to attract more customers. The features and functionalities must be selected and integrated with great attention and precision.

To ensure that you are headed in the right direction, you can start with detailed market research. It will help you get a lay of the land and analyze the competitors, target audience and market, scope of the app idea, and more. Once you have all the information and research data, you can get started with app development.  

Consider the tips listed below and make your journey seamless:

How to turn your Shopify store into an app?

Let us cut to the chase and understand how you can convert your Shopify store into a mobile app. It is obvious that you must build your app with absolute perfection to attract more customers. The features and functionalities must be selected and integrated with great attention and precision.

To ensure that you are headed in the right direction, you can start with detailed market research. It will help you get a lay of the land and analyze the competitors, target audience and market, scope of the app idea, and more. Once you have all the information and research data, you can get started with app development.  

There are two ways you can build an app for your Shopify store – 

• Use a no-code solution to convert your Shopify store into an app
• Build a custom app from scratch with a development team

The second option is more complicated, especially if you don’t have an in-house team of developers to build and design an app for you. If you already have a fully-built Shopify store, it’s a better idea to convert your website into an app. A product like AppMySite is ideal for this use case. 

In the following sections, we discuss how to transform your Shopify store into an app with AppMySite.

Step 1 – Set up your mobile app

The first step is setting up your app on AppMySite. The platform offers four solutions – WordPress, WooCommerce, Web to app, and Custom app. If you want to convert your Shopify store into an app, choose Web to app. 

You can also give your app a name during this step, and enter your Shopify store’s URL. 

Step 2: Design your app

Once your app setup is complete, you’ll arrive on the app dashboard. You can start be designing your app. 

• App icon – You can upload your Shopify store’s logo as your app icon. If you’d like to design a new logo from scratch, AppMySite’s design editor allows you to do the same. It works like Canva and has a ton of features you can use to design the icon. 
• Splash screen – A splash screen is essentially the momentary screen you see when an app loads. AppMySite lets you upload your design, but you again have the option to design one from scratch. 
• App theme – Next, you can set the theme of the app. Here, you can set the color of your app’s header and buttons. 

Step 3: Add navigation to your app

Mobile app navigation is crucial to making your app’s experience smooth. With AppMySite, you can add a side menu and a bottom bar to your app. This way, users can navigate through the app seamlessly. 

The process itself is quite simple. All you need to do is add a menu button, choose where the button will take users, and add an icon for the button to make things more visual. Since you’re converting your Shopify store into an app, you can add specific URLs from your Shopify stores to the buttons.

For example, you can link one button to a collection page, one to your store’s cart screen, and another to a popular product on your store. It all depends on what is most popular on your store, and then adding direct buttons in the menu to make these buttons more accessible. 

Step 4: Configure web view settings

Before you configure your web view settings, it’s important to understand how AppMySite converts your Shopify store into an app. 

Essentially, AppMySite renders your Shopify store’s mobile version in an app interface. This interface is called webview. The app looks and works exactly like your Shopify store, except it operates in an app (webview) interface. 

Why is this important? AppMySite also lets you change the settings of your webview interface. The idea is to provide more customization options for your app. 

Here are some settings you can configure –

• Customize the webview header – You can change the way your app’s header looks. This includes settings to add text in the header, configure its alignment, and set a color theme. 
• Configure screen controls – You can also choose to customize technical options like enabling pull to refresh, pinch to zoom, hide specific elements from your Shopify store by adding their HTML ID or class, etc. You can also choose to retain cookies, which is a helpful option if you want to allow users to maintain log-in sessions within the app. 

Step 5: Preview your app

Next, you can see how your app looks. AppMySite has Android and iOS device simulators that let you see how your app looks and works. 

This is an important step as you can check if the app works as intended. If you’d like to make changes, you can go back and change any setting or design choice you made earlier. As previously explained, the app you see is simply rendered from your Shopify store. Any changes you make to the website will be reflected in the app instantly and automatically. 

You can also preview the app on an actual device. There are instructions on how to do this in the Preview section of your app dashboard. 

Step 6: Publish your app to the app stores

The final step is publishing your app to the app stores. You can download your Android and iOS apps from AppMySite, and then proceed to publish them with your own Apple and Google developer accounts. 

As per app store policy, app publishers must submit apps from their own account. You are required to create these accounts on your own. 

You can follow detailed guides on how to submit your app to Google Play and the Apple App Store. In case you need help during the process, AppMySite’s support team can help you along the way. 

How to promote your Shopify app?

It is not just enough to create an app and make it live. You will need to promote and market the app well to get a good number of initial downloads on the app stores, and to secure better ranks.

Although there are a variety of ways for marketing and promotion of a mobile app, it can be mainly divided into three phases.

The three most significant phases of a perfect launch strategy are:

1. Pre-launch

While the app idea is still being conceived or the app is being built, you can spend some time promoting it parallelly like the trailers of a movie. It is the best time to create curiosity in the minds of your potential app consumers and get them interested in the idea.

Drop intriguing teasers and promotional content on your website, social media pages, or other advertisement channels. Tell them why the upcoming product is desirable and how it will impact their lives for the good. Create hype around the launch of your app and thrive on it.

2. Launch

This is the phase where the actual game takes place, and it requires the most effort. You can stick to some elementary mediums and platforms or make the launch of your app an extravagant affair. It totally depends on your budget, business goals, and your calls.

However, do not forget to endorse your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) at this point and make your users feel like they are a part of the campaign. At this stage, you can use existing tools of communication or you can go for app store optimization, install ad campaigns, video marketing, influencer marketing, social media marketing, or more.

3. Post-launch

In order to raise the graph of growth and prevent it from dropping, you must be consistent in your efforts. The marketing should not just stop with the launch of the app. In fact, it should take a stronger pace from this point. This can be done using push notifications, email marketing, social media, or more.

Once the app is out there, you can seek people to indulge, use your app, drop ratings and reviews, and share it in their circle. To achieve this feat, you will need to communicate it to them strongly and smartly. Analyze and strengthen your marketing efforts and keep reviewing and reinventing the strategies from time to time.

How can AppMySite help you with Shopify app development?

AppMySite is one of the best no-code app builders available online that offers a holistic platform for creating apps without coding. If you want to take the simple and affordable route to app development where you enjoy complete authority and control over the process, then AppMySite is the way to go.

The platform offers many products and solutions that make your journey easier. For instance, you can go with the web-to-app converter to turn your Shopify website into a full-fledged mobile app. Mirror your website on an app and be ready to cater to app-based customers in no time.

Plus, AppMySite offers a suite of features that ensure a true-blue mobile experience for you and your buyers. You can design and develop your app in an intuitive and DIY (Do It Yourself) environment in minutes and add features of your choice with easy toggle options. You can give it a try for free and know for yourself.

While you are at it, you can check out our other blogs and learn how to create an app, launch it, and market it to your customers. Create an app to claim your territory in the m-commerce realm and market it the right way to stay ahead of your customers. Get going! May the force of technology be with you!

Frequently asked questions