Softr to iPhone app
Turn your Softr app into a real iPhone app
Borel turns a Softr portal or internal tool into a native iPhone app. Paste the softr.app address, attach screenshots of the logged-in pages and describe your data, and Borel writes the app in Swift with SwiftUI, with sign-in and a cloud database. Try it on a real iOS Simulator in your browser, install it, and publish it to the App Store.
Updated
Native apps built by Borel, in the iOS Simulator.
Softr
What does Softr make?
Softr builds client portals and internal tools without code. Each app gets a free address like myportal.softr.app, and most of what it shows sits behind a login.
Data comes from Softr Databases or a connected source such as Airtable, Notion or Google Sheets, shown through lists, tables and forms.
The iPhone question
Can a Softr app be published to the App Store?
No. Softr's FAQ says mobile publishing isn't supported: Softr apps are progressive web apps and can't be published to the App Store or Google Play, on any plan.
The PWA, which puts an icon on the home screen, comes with Softr's Professional plan and up. For clients who expect to download your app from the App Store, you need a real iPhone app.
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 Softr app. 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 Softr app into an iPhone app
- 1
Copy the portal address
Your softr.app link or custom domain, beginning with https://. Borel can only see the login page, so the next step matters.
- 2
Show Borel the inside
Send the prompt below and attach screenshots of the main logged-in pages, four in one message. Name the data each list shows.
- 3
A native portal is built
Borel takes your brand from the public page and the layouts from your screenshots, then writes SwiftUI screens with sign-in and tables in its cloud.
- 4
Log in on an iPhone
Sign up and use the portal in the iOS Simulator in your browser, free. Borel Companion, on Pro, installs it on your phone, or a colleague's.
- 5
Give clients the App Store link
On Pro, with your Apple Developer account, Borel builds, signs and submits the app 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 client portal like my Softr app at <your address>. Clients sign in with email and see only their own [records]. Screens: [list them]. Data: [table: fields]. Use our logo and colours.
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 Softr app | In the iPhone app |
|---|---|
| Branding | Moves over. Logo and colours from the login page Borel can open. |
| Portal pages | Moves over. Rebuilt from your screenshots as native lists, detail views and forms. |
| Data structure | Moves over. The tables and fields you describe, created in Borel's cloud with access rules. |
| Airtable or Softr Databases rows | Made new. Not synced. The app holds its own data, or reads an API you save a key for. |
| Client logins | Made new. Clients create an account in the app with email and password. |
| Permissions | Made new. Set per table, for example rows only their owner can see. |
| Your Softr app | Stays. Keeps working for anyone in a browser. |
Frequently asked questions
No. Borel never signs in anywhere. It takes the look from your public login page and the screens from the screenshots you attach, so show it the pages that matter.
Not on its own. After the first build you can save an Airtable token under Tools › Keys, and Borel can fetch from Airtable's API through Borel's server, with the token never in the app.
Yes. A table's access rule can keep each row to the signed-in person who made it.
No. You describe the portal and ask for changes in the chat. The Swift code is there to download if you ever hire one.
Building and testing in the simulator can start on the free plan. Publishing to the App Store comes with Pro, and Apple's Developer Program is $99 a year.
Paste your Softr app
Turn your portal into an iPhone app your clients can download.