How to Convert Your Website into an iOS App (The Fast & Simple Way)

Having an iOS app for your business is increasingly becoming a necessity. 

While your website serves as your digital headquarters, and the home for new visitors to your brand, an iOS app offers a direct pipeline to your regular customers' pockets—creating opportunities for deeper engagement and brand loyalty.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through:

• The end-to-end process of converting your website into a fully-functional iOS app
• Realistic timelines and cost considerations to help you plan effectively
• Practical tips for ensuring a smooth conversion process
• How to use MobiLoud as the fastest, most cost-effective solution for website-to-app conversion

By the end of this article, you'll have a clear roadmap for bringing your website to the Apple App Store (without the traditional headaches of app development).

Why Having an iOS App Matters

Having a dedicated iOS app for your website brings several significant advantages:

Increased user engagement and retention

Mobile apps boast engagement rates up to 3x higher than mobile websites, with users spending 88% of their mobile time in apps rather than browsers.

Direct communication with push notifications

Having a mobile app allows you to send push notifications to app users, and reach them with direct, timely messages right on their lock screen.

Better user experience optimized for mobile

Apps provide smoother navigation, faster load times, and features specifically designed for touchscreen interaction.

Access to the App Store's large audience

With over 500 million weekly visitors to the App Store, your business gains visibility in one of the world's largest digital marketplaces.

Enhanced brand presence and credibility

A professional iOS app signals legitimacy and commitment to your audience, strengthening your overall brand perception.

The Traditional Challenges of Building an App

Before diving into the solution, it's worth understanding why many businesses hesitate to develop iOS apps, despite the clear benefits.

High Costs of Custom Development

Traditional app development is notoriously expensive:

• In-house development: Hiring iOS developers at $120,000+ annual salaries plus benefits
• Outsourcing: Agency rates ranging from $75-150 per hour, with simple apps starting at $30,000 and complex ones easily exceeding $150,000
• Ongoing costs: Maintenance, updates, and bug fixes typically add 15-20% of the initial development cost annually (most businesses don’t realize the ongoing work involved in maintaining a new platform)

Learn more: How Much Does it Cost to Create an App?

Long Development Timelines

Custom app development is also time-intensive:

• Design and planning: 2-4 weeks to create wireframes, mockups, and technical specifications
• Development: 3-9 months of coding, depending on complexity
• Testing and iteration: 4-8 weeks of quality assurance and bug fixing
• App Store approval: 1-2 weeks for Apple's review process

All up, you're looking at 6-12 months from concept to launch—an eternity in today's fast-moving business environment.

Technical Complexity and Maintenance

Beyond the initial build, apps require ongoing technical attention:

• Specialized Swift or Objective-C developers for iOS-specific code
• Regular updates to accommodate new iOS versions (released annually)
• Compatibility testing across multiple device types and screen sizes
• Security patches and performance optimizations

Why These Challenges Often Discourage Businesses

These hurdles create significant opportunity costs (not to mention actual, tangible costs).

The resources tied up in app development could be deployed elsewhere, and the long time-to-market means delayed ROI and competitive disadvantage.

Technical complexity creates dependency on specialized talent, and makes it a costly endeavour. 

For many businesses, especially small to medium-sized operations, these barriers have traditionally made iOS app development seem out of reach—until now.

Further Reading: How to Build an Ecommerce App

Step-by-Step Walkthrough: Converting Your Site into an iOS App with MobiLoud

Unlike native development, converting your website to an iOS app with MobiLoud follows a straightforward process with a total timeline of approximately 2–4 weeks.

You can go live for a minimal expense, and have a positive ROI from your app within just a number of weeks—not months or years.

All this with minimal maintenance load, and full feature parity with your website.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Initial Setup and Configuration

Start by getting a free, interactive preview of your website as an app.

You’ll be able to see what your app will look like, and how seamlessly we turn your existing, mobile-optimized website into an app that looks and feels totally native.

If you have any questions over the preview, or how the process works, you can schedule a free consultation to discuss and get all your questions answered.

Step 2: Development

Next is the technical phase.

Our team will take over and develop your iOS app, carefully ensuring flawless performance and functionality.

Your website’s existing features and integrations will all carry over to your iPhone app, with no extra development required.

We also add native mobile features like push notifications, enhanced navigation, and native touches like splash screens and loading indicators.

Step 3: Testing and Quality Assurance

In a couple of weeks, a version will be ready for testing, which you can try out on your own device.

Send us any feedback or issues you come across, so we can get everything in your app working perfectly.

We’ll do our own quality assurance testing at the same time, ensuring all tricky edge cases are tested, and that your app will be free from bugs and hiccups by the time you launch.

Step 4: Final Tweaks and Approval

We’ll work with you to tweak the app based on your feedback, as well as any issues our team finds in testing.

Soon we’ll have another version ready for you to sign off on.

Step 5: App Store Submission

When any issues found in testing have been fixed, it’s time to submit your app to the Apple App Store.

We do all of this for you. Apple’s submission process is notoriously difficult, but our team has the experience to take care of this with minimal fuss.

We ensure your app complies with all necessary guidelines, and manage the entire approval process, taking a huge stressor off your plate.

Step 6: Post-Launch Maintenance and Updates

Soon, you can start promoting your new iOS app.

We’ll support you in this process, with a launch strategy and specific ideas on how to spread the word about your new app. 

We also provide continuous maintenance, updates, and support, ensuring your app remains current with your website’s latest features, changes, and content.

Ready to learn more, and kick-start the process of launching your own mobile app? Get a free preview of your mobile app now.

Why MobiLoud is Different

MobiLoud is a specialized service that transforms your existing website into a fully native iOS (and Android) app.

Here are the key benefits we offer, compared to rebuilding your website as a native iOS app:

• No custom coding required: Your existing website content and functionality are preserved
• Native app experience: The resulting app looks and feels like a native iOS application
• Native features included: Push notifications, navigation, and other mobile-specific features are seamlessly integrated
• Universal compatibility: Works with any website technology—WordPress, Shopify, custom-built sites, or any tech stack (no matter how complex)

MobiLoud stands out from other solutions (particularly native development) in several important ways:

• Speed: Launch your iOS app in 2-4 weeks instead of 6-12 months
• Cost-effectiveness: Spend a fraction of custom development costs
• Ease of maintenance: Your app automatically updates when you change your website
• Proven approach: Over 2,000 businesses have successfully launched apps with MobiLoud

You’ll be able to go live with a professional, low-maintenance native app for just a one-time setup fee (typically $1,000-$3,000 depending on customization needs), plus a monthly subscription ranging from $200-$500 based on your selected features.

The savings compared to traditional development are substantial, with a custom iOS app costing $30,000-$150,000+ for initial development, plus $10,000+ (minimum) per year for maintenance.

The faster time-to-market means you start seeing these benefits in weeks rather than months or years.

It’s easier, cheaper, faster, and the small benefits you get from building a fully native app just don’t justify the extra investment.

Common Questions and Concerns

Any questions? They’ll probably be answered below. 

If you’re still not sure of anything, feel free to book a free consultation to talk it over with a project manager.

Will My App Look Exactly Like My Website?

Your app will maintain your brand identity and core layout while incorporating native iOS design elements. 

The goal is to create an experience that feels natural on iOS while preserving the familiarity of your website (and reducing the amount of rebuilding required, and duplication of effort moving forward).

What if I Need to Update My Website?

One of MobiLoud's biggest advantages is automatic synchronization. 

When you update your website's content or features, those changes reflect in your app automatically—no separate app updates required for content changes.

Do I Need to Know How to Code?

Absolutely not. The whole point of MobiLoud is to eliminate the need for coding expertise. The MobiLoud team handles all technical aspects, from configuration to submission.

How Do Push Notifications Work?

MobiLoud integrates a robust push notification system that allows you to:

• Send targeted notifications to app users
• Schedule notifications in advance
• Create automated notification triggers based on user behavior
• View detailed analytics on notification performance

All this is set up for you, using native integrations with OneSignal and/or Klaviyo.

App Store Approval Concerns

Getting apps approved for the App Store is notoriously difficult. However, in the process of launching 2,000+ apps, we have a proven track record of App Store approvals. 

Our team follows Apple's guidelines carefully and ensures your app meets all requirements before submission, significantly reducing the likelihood of delays due to revisions.

Ultimately, we guarantee your apps will be approved for publishing in the App Stores—that’s how confident we are in our process.

What About Android?

While this guide focuses on iOS, we offer the same conversion process for Android apps. In fact, most of our customers choose to launch on both platforms simultaneously, which we will accommodate without doubling the cost or timeline.

Of course, if you only want to launch on iOS, that’s completely fine as well. 

Read more: How to Convert Your Website into an Android App (Without Coding)

Use Cases

MobiLoud is a great way for businesses in many different industries and verticals to launch their own mobile apps, with minimal investment, low overhead, and zero risk.

These include:

• Ecommerce sites
• Digital publishers and content-based businesses
• SaaS companies and web apps
• Online courses
• Communities and membership sites
• Online directories and marketplaces

In a nutshell, if your business has a mobile-optimized website, and a steady flow of return customers or users on mobile, you can benefit from turning your website into an app.

To see more examples of what’s possible with MobiLoud, check out these case studies of successful businesses we’ve helped to launch their own mobile apps.

Next Steps

Converting your website to an iOS app offers transformative benefits, from deeper engagement with your mobile audience, to increased retention, and stronger brand credibility and presence in your industry.

Converting your website into an iOS app with MobiLoud is straightforward:

1. Schedule a consultation call with MobiLoud's team
2. Receive a personalized assessment of your website's app potential
3. Get a custom quote based on your specific requirements
4. Begin the conversion process with a clear timeline and deliverables

Building an iOS app no longer requires months of development and massive investment. MobiLoud provides a proven, cost-effective alternative to custom development that takes weeks, not months.

Your app will maintain your brand identity while providing a native iOS experience, and ongoing maintenance is simplified with automatic synchronization with your website.

Don't let technical complexity or cost concerns keep your business from the benefits of having an iOS app. 

Get a free preview of your app today, and discover how quickly your website can become a professional iOS app that drives engagement, enhances your brand, and creates new opportunities for growth.