How to make an app for your employees: 6 steps (2026)

By Sigsten Gustavii· 23 October 2026· Updated 27 October 2026· 10 min read

To make an app for your employees, pick the two or three things your team now does on paper, in group chats or in spreadsheets, describe those screens and who may edit them to an AI app builder like Borel, try it with a couple of colleagues, then hand it to the whole team through a private Apple route rather than the public App Store.

Start small. An app that only does shifts and checklists, and does them well, gets opened every day. An app that tries to replace your payroll, HR system and chat at once never gets finished.

What goes in an employee app

Who sees what: roles and the team space

Staff data is private, so decide who can see and change each thing before you build. Borel's cloud keeps shared data in a group: a space people join with an invite code. Each person in a group has a role:

• Owner: whoever made the group, usually you or the manager. Changes everything, removes people.
• Editor: what people get when they join. Ticks checklists, asks for swaps, adds photos.
• Viewer: can look but not change, for someone like a seasonal helper or an accountant.

Say it in plain words when you describe the app: "only managers can post news and edit shifts; staff can tick checklists and ask to swap a shift". Rows keep who added them, so a ticked checklist shows the name and time. When someone leaves and deletes their account, the team keeps what they added.

For a business with several sites, use one group per site, and let managers belong to more than one.

Shifts that people actually check

A rota is the screen staff open most. Keep it fast to read:

1. My shifts on top. The home screen shows your next three shifts, with start time and place in large type.
2. The whole week. One tap shows everyone's shifts, by day.
3. Swap requests. Ask a colleague to take a shift; the manager approves it.
4. Add to Calendar. A button puts a shift in the iPhone's own Calendar.
5. A reminder before work. The phone reminds you an hour before each shift, scheduled on the phone itself, so it works with the app closed. See reminders.

The data is simple: a Shift (person, start, end, site, role), a Swap request (shift, from, to, status) and Time off (person, from, to). Borel keeps it in the app's own cloud, so a manager's change shows on everyone's phone the next time they open the app.

Checklists that get done

Checklists turn "did anyone lock the back door?" into a tick with a name and a time. Good ones are short, in the order people walk through the building, and tied to a shift.

• A photo where it matters: the till count, the fridge temperature, the clean floor. The camera takes it and the app stores it with the tick.
• Scanning a label: Apple's VisionKit reads printed text and codes through the camera, handy for stock or delivery notes.
• Working in a basement: ask for the day's checklists to be kept on the phone so they open without signal. See offline data.
• A history: managers see every completed checklist by day and site.

News and the team directory

A news list replaces the announcements that get lost in a busy group chat: a new menu, a fire drill on Thursday, a change to opening hours. Managers post; everyone sees the newest at the top when they open the app. For something urgent, tell people in person too.

The directory is the quiet favourite. Name, photo, role and site, searchable, with a tap to call or email. New starters stop asking who the duty manager is.

Getting the app onto your employees' phones

Most employee apps shouldn't sit in the public App Store. Apple offers private routes, and each has its use. Our guide to distributing an internal iPhone app covers them in depth; here is the summary.

Apple names employee resources as a good fit for unlisted distribution, and suggests a way to stop strangers who find the link. A staff sign-in does that: ask for the app to show nothing but the login until someone has joined your team.

A custom app is for companies that use Apple Business, Apple's service for buying and managing apps on company devices. In App Store Connect you set the app's distribution to Private and name your organisation's ID, and the app then appears in your company's Custom Apps list, ready to send to managed phones through device management or hand out with redemption codes. Pick this before Apple approves the app; it can't be switched on afterwards.

Borel Companion is for your own iPhone. It's the quickest way to try the app on a real phone while you build, not a way to install it for the whole team.

Privacy and Apple's rules

Collect only what the team needs. A phone number and a role are useful; a home address or date of birth usually isn't. If staff photos go in the directory, ask before you add them.

For a company app, enrol in Apple's Developer Program as an organisation so the app is listed under the company's name. Our individual or organisation guide explains the difference.

What an employee app costs

There is no per-employee fee from Borel: twenty staff or two hundred, you pay for the plan and what the app uses. See pricing.

Workforce platform, spreadsheet tool or your own app?

• A workforce platform suits you if you need payroll, time clocks and labour-law rules for many sites, and have the budget per seat.
• A spreadsheet tool like Glide suits you if your team is happy with an app that opens in the phone's browser; its help centre says it doesn't publish to the App Store.
• Your own app with Borel suits you if you want a native iPhone app with your name, camera, calendar and reminders, shaped around how your team works, without a developer. Read making an app for your business for the customer-facing side.

How to make an employee app with Borel, step by step

Step 1: Pick the jobs

Ask three colleagues what they look up or write down most in a week. Pick two or three of those jobs. Gather the real data: the current rota, the checklists and the staff list.

Step 2: Describe the app

An app for the staff of Kafé Linnea, two cafés in Uppsala. Staff sign in with email and join their café's team with an invite code. Tabs: My shifts, Rota, Checklists, News and Team. My shifts shows my next shifts with an Add to Calendar button and a reminder an hour before each. Rota shows everyone's week by café; staff can ask a colleague to swap and the manager approves. Checklists for opening and closing, each task ticked with name and time, and the till count needs a photo. Managers post news; the newest is on top. Team lists everyone with photo, role and phone, tap to call. Only managers can edit shifts, checklists and news.

Penny asks about anything unclear, for example who approves a swap at the second café. Then Rivet writes the app in Swift with SwiftUI and Xcode builds it on Borel's Mac. You don't need a Mac.

Step 3: Try it as staff and as a manager

The app opens in the iOS Simulator in your browser, free. Sign in as a manager, make a shift, then sign in as staff and ask to swap it. Tick a checklist with a photo and see it in the manager's history.

Step 4: Make it yours

Attach your logo and ask for your colours. Then small things in plain words: "show today's checklist on the home screen", "group the team by café".

Step 5: Pilot it with a few staff

With Pro, install it on your own iPhone with Companion and use it for a few shifts. Then publish a build and invite a handful of colleagues through TestFlight for two weeks. Change what they stumble over with a message.

Step 6: Roll it out privately

Stamp checks the app against the reasons Apple most often turns apps down, and Publish builds, signs and uploads it under your own Apple Developer account. Choose unlisted or custom distribution in App Store Connect, and include a test staff login in the review notes.

The Bottom Line

A good employee app answers "when do I work, what do I do, and who do I ask?" in a few taps. Keep it to the jobs your team really does, set roles before you build, and give it to staff through a private Apple route. With Borel, you describe it, try it on a live iPhone in your browser and publish it under your company's name. Describe your team's week on Borel and see the rota on a live iPhone today.

I think the most useful staff tools are the plain ones that save ten minutes every shift. Describe your team's week to Borel and see what it builds.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

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