PWA to iPhone app
Turn your PWA into a real iPhone app on the App Store
Borel turns a progressive web app into a native iPhone app that can go on the App Store. Paste your PWA's address, and Borel reads its name, icon, colours and screens, photographs it and writes the app in Swift with SwiftUI. You try it on a real iOS Simulator in your browser, install it on your iPhone and submit it to Apple, all without a Mac.
Updated
Native apps built by Borel, in the iOS Simulator.
PWA
What is a PWA on an iPhone?
A PWA is a website built to behave like an app. On an iPhone, Apple's own guide shows how it gets there: in Safari, tap Add to Home Screen and turn on Open as Web App, and the site opens on its own, without the browser's bars.
It's the cheapest way to an icon on the home screen, and many web apps, from Glide and Softr apps to hand-built ones, ship this way.
The iPhone question
Why isn't a PWA in the App Store?
The App Store only takes app builds. App Store Connect accepts a build uploaded from Xcode or Apple's upload tools, and there's no field for a web address, so a PWA has to become an app first.
Tools that package a PWA in a native shell produce exactly that: your website, in a web view, in an app. Apple's guideline 4.2 asks apps to go beyond a repackaged website, and people can tell, which is why a native rebuild is worth it.
Apple's rule
Why a rebuild beats a wrapper
Apple reviews every app before it reaches the App Store, and a website in an app's frame is what its guideline 4.2 is about.
“Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or “app-like,” it doesn’t belong on the App Store.”
Borel never wraps your PWA. It writes a separate app in Swift with SwiftUI, Apple’s own language and interface framework, so the screens, scrolling and controls are the iPhone’s.
Step by step
How to turn your PWA into an iPhone app
- 1
Copy your PWA's start URL
The address people open before adding it to their home screen, with https:// first.
- 2
Paste it into Borel
Send the prompt below. For screens behind your login, attach screenshots, up to four in a message, and say what each does.
- 3
A real app replaces the web app
Borel reads the name, icon and colours, photographs the page as a phone shows it, and writes SwiftUI screens with native tabs and navigation.
- 4
Compare it with your PWA
Open both side by side: your PWA in a tab, the native app in the iOS Simulator in your browser, free. Borel Companion, on Pro, installs the app on your phone.
- 5
Get it into the App Store
With Pro and Apple's Developer Program, Borel compiles the build Apple asks for, signs it and uploads it to App Store Connect.
Your first message
A prompt to start from
Put your address where it says, fill in the brackets, and send it as your first message.
Make a native iPhone app from my progressive web app at <your address>. Keep its name, icon, colours and screens: [list them]. Use iPhone tabs, lists and sheets. People sign in with email and their [data] is kept in the cloud.
Moving over
What moves over, and what is made new
Borel works from what your app shows, the screenshots you add and the words you write. It doesn't copy code or accounts out of another platform.
| In your PWA | In the iPhone app |
|---|---|
| Name, icon and colours | Moves over. Read from the site and its pictures. |
| Screens | Moves over. Rebuilt natively from the page and your screenshots. |
| Copy | Moves over. From the start page, plus what you paste. |
| Offline cache and service worker | Made new. Not needed: a native app is installed on the phone, and local data can live in SwiftData. |
| Users | Made new. They make an account in the app with email and password. |
| Your backend | Made new. The app starts with Borel's cloud; an API that takes a key can be added through Tools › Keys. |
| The PWA | Stays. Still installable from Safari for anyone who prefers it. |
Frequently asked questions
Not as it is. Apple takes app builds, not web addresses, and a PWA wrapped in a web view has to get past guideline 4.2. Rebuilding it natively with Borel gives Apple a real app to review.
A listing people can find in the App Store, the iPhone's own navigation and controls, Face ID, the camera, Apple Maps and in-app purchases through Apple's frameworks.
Screens and anything kept on the phone with SwiftData work offline. Data shared between devices lives in Borel's cloud and needs a connection.
No. Borel compiles and signs the app with Xcode on its own Mac and uploads it for you. You need Pro and a membership in Apple's Developer Program.
Yes. Borel never changes it, so people can keep adding it from Safari while the native app goes through review.