How to Create a Membership App: Rules and Steps (2026)

By Sigsten Gustavii· 27 October 2026· 8 min read

To create a membership app, decide what members get (digital content, a community, or access to something in person), choose how they pay under Apple's rules, build the member-only areas and the sign-up, and make sure there is something new for members every week. With Borel, you describe the membership and it builds the paywall or the member spaces.

"Membership app" means very different things to a yoga studio, a recipe creator and a football club. The difference that matters most on iPhone is whether the membership is something digital inside the app, or access to something in the real world. Apple's rules split exactly along that line.

Apple's rules for memberships

Read the full rules on Apple's App Review Guidelines page before you decide.

Digital memberships: subscriptions through Apple

For content and features in the app, the membership is an auto-renewing subscription sold with Apple's in-app purchase. In Borel, open Payments in the chat's + menu, set the plan's name, its cycle (weekly, monthly, every 2, 3 or 6 months, or yearly) and its price. Borel builds the paywall on Apple's StoreKit with Apple's own price, the subscription terms, Restore Purchases and links to the Terms and Privacy Policy, then creates the subscription in App Store Connect when you publish. Members cancel in their Apple ID settings, and the app locks the member content again when the paid period ends.

See how to add in-app purchases for the detail.

In-person memberships: the app as the member's companion

For a gym, studio, club or association, the app doesn't sell the membership; it makes being a member better. Members join with an invite code from the front desk or the club secretary, and the app gives them:

• A timetable of classes or events, with Add to Calendar.
• Reminders before a booked class, scheduled on the phone; see reminders.
• A member card screen with name, photo, member number and expiry date to show at the door.
• News for members and a members' directory people opt into.
• Directions to the venue in Apple Maps.

Payment stays where it is today: at the desk, by direct debit, or on your website.

Member-only content and community

Member areas need two things: a rule for who can read what, and enough new content to justify the fee. In a Borel app, content lives in Borel Cloud with an access rule per table, and a member community is a space people join, with report and block on every post from Borel's moderation kit, as Apple's Guideline 1.2 requires. Plan a content calendar before you open: a membership that adds nothing for a month loses members.

What to put in front of the paywall

People pay for what they have already tasted. A good split:

Keeping members

Most memberships are lost in the second month, when the novelty fades. Build the habits that keep people in from the start:

1. A rhythm people can count on. New content on the same day each week, announced on the home screen.
2. Progress they can see. Saved recipes cooked, workouts done, units finished, shown as a streak or a chart.
3. A reason to open the app today. This week's pick, an event coming up, a reply to their post.
4. Reminders they choose. A weekly nudge at a time each member sets, scheduled on their phone.
5. An easy way back. A lapsed member who reopens the app should see what is new since they left.

Push notifications are a common retention tool, but Borel apps don't send them, so the home screen and reminders members choose do that work. For a community, the members themselves are the reason to return; seed it with your own posts until others join in.

Designing the paywall

Apple checks paywalls closely. Show the benefits in three to five short lines, Apple's own price with its billing period, a single button, and under it the subscription terms, Restore Purchases and links to the Terms and Privacy Policy. Borel's ready-made paywall follows that layout. Let people close it without paying, and show it at the moment they reach for something members-only, not as the opening screen.

What it costs

See pricing.

How to choose the right way to build a membership app

• Borel, for a native iPhone membership app with a StoreKit subscription or member spaces for an in-person club, built from a description.
• A creator platform's app, if you want a ready-made template under the platform's brand.
• A gym management system's app, if you need bookings tied to your desk software and turnstiles.
• [CatDoes](/compare/catdoes), if many members use Android; it builds React Native apps for both stores.

How to do it with Borel, step by step

Step 1: Describe what members get

Make a membership app for my plant-based recipe site. Anyone can browse 10 free recipes and this week's pick. Members get the full library, weekly meal plans and a shopping list built from a plan. Members sign in with email. Use the monthly plan I attached for the membership, with the ready-made paywall listing those three benefits, shown when someone opens a members-only recipe. Add a members' community feed where people share photos of what they cooked, with report and block.

Rivet writes the app in Swift with SwiftUI, the paywall on StoreKit and the community with Borel's moderation kit.

Step 2: Check the member journey

In the iOS Simulator in your browser, browse as a visitor, hit the paywall, and check the free and members-only content. Buying opens once the app is on the App Store.

Step 3: Publish

With Pro and an Apple Developer account, Publish creates the subscription at Apple, then builds, signs and uploads the app. Stamp checks the paywall's terms and links before you submit.

The Bottom Line

A membership app starts with one question: is the membership digital or in the real world? Digital memberships are Apple subscriptions, and Borel builds the StoreKit paywall and creates the product for you. In-person memberships are paid as today, and the app makes being a member better with timetables, reminders and member spaces. Describe yours on Borel and walk through it as a member on a live iPhone.

I think whether your membership is digital or in the real world decides almost everything. Start there, then describe what members get.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

Describe the app you want and see its first screens before you pay anything.