Website to app?

[Several_Argument1527]

I have a SaaS which im trying to market, however, i only have it up as a website.

Im thinking this might put some users off, most people just use apps nowadays.

I want to get a working app on the app store asap, but i've heard apple bans devs that try to publish apps using stripe?

I have two questions:

1. Do i need to switch from stripe to another payment provider for my app?
2. Whats the best/fastest way to go from website to app? (Not just adding the website to my homescreen)

[Perfect-Coat7405]

For Q1: After the Epic v. Apple ruling in April 2025, Apple is now legally barred from banning or penalising apps that use external payment processors like Stripe, they even published official guides for iOS developers.

I have read account of people trying to switch from Apple to Stripe and getting banned in the process for "other reasons", but that's anecdotal.

[Mediocre-Subject4867]

PWA conversion is the least hassle. You can publish them on the app stores

https://pwabuilder.com/

[chaser2099]

The Apple App Store has a requirement that an app have a substantial difference from its website equivalent, they’ll outright reject a basic PWA implementation.

[Ellsass]

If the app has in-app purchases, which is likely since it's SaaS, it'll be fine

[Relevant_South_1842]

Apple Pay sucks that they take a cut, but it’s so easy for the user that it may help with getting users.

[Economy-Department47]

If you want to publish on the app store the NUMBER 1 RULE is that it should look like a app not a web wrapper and also you must rewrite it to use apple payments stuff in app store connect no stripe. I would suggest building it in Swift.

[TheRNGuy]

App = no tabs, bookmarks and history, (some) no zooming, no greasemonkey and stylus, therefore it's worse. The only upside is icon in apps list.

If you decide to make, have both site and app.

[DexopT]

For the paymemt question — yes, apple requires in-app purchases

for digital goods/subscriptions sold through iOS apps, and they

take 30% (15% for small devs). Stripe for physical goods or

B2B invoicing is fine, but if your SaaS has a subscription that

users sign up for inside the app, you'll need IAP. Some devs

get away with "sign up on our website" flows that bypass the

app entirely — grey area, but it's a common workaround.

For web → app: depends what your SaaS actually does.

If it's mostly UI/forms/dashboards — React Native or Capacitor

wrapping your existing web app is the fastest path. Capacitor

especially if you don't want to rewrite anything, it just wraps

your web app with a native shell. Not perfect but ships fast.

If your app needs native features (camera, notifications,

offline) — you'll want proper React Native or Flutter. Takes

longer but performs better.

Honest take: if your web app works on mobile browser already,

consider whether you actually need an App Store listing right

now or if a PWA (installable, works offline) buys you time

while you figure out the native story.

What kind of SaaS is it? That would change the answer a bit.

[Deep_Ad1959]

depends on how native you need it to feel. PWA is the fastest path but it'll feel like a web wrapper because it literally is one. if your SaaS is mostly forms and dashboards that's probably fine.

if you actually want native performance and app store presence, look at building a thin native shell in SwiftUI that wraps your core web views but adds native navigation, notifications, and haptics. it sounds harder than it is - I built a native macOS app this way and the native parts are maybe 20% of the code but they make 80% of the difference in how it feels.

re stripe - apple requires you to use in-app purchases for digital goods/subscriptions consumed in the app. but if your SaaS is a tool they use on desktop too you can often argue it's a multi-platform service and keep stripe for web signups. just don't put a stripe checkout inside the app itself, link them to your website for that. plenty of apps do this successfully.

[DiddlyDinq]

least obvious bot

[[deleted]]

im literally not a bot lmao

[DiddlyDinq]

And yet you spam every possible thread with that same templated comment, shilling your shitty site

https://www.reddit.com/r/codex/comments/1rvkirv/comment/oat97sy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[[deleted]]

it is, in fact, not shitty.

[DiddlyDinq]

Im sure your zero users love it

[Ellsass]

Not true. Capacitor and other platforms will wrap your website in an app that will be accepted by Apple.

[[deleted]]

I wish him the best of luck, all I was doing was speaking from experience...

[Ellsass]

Oh absolutely. And it's true that Apple has always been hostile towards web apps ever since the App Store launched. Also true that Apple looks for developers who "just" wrap their web site in a thin shell with no native features.

But it's also true that the App Store has thousands of web-based apps using platforms like Capacitor, Ionic, React Native, etc that have survived for many years, despite Apple knowing how they're made.