Push notifications
Send to everyone, a segment or one customer, from the dashboard or the API. Permission is asked when you choose, not at first open.
How it works · Apps
How your app ships.
The project you build in the editor becomes an iOS and an Android app. We package it, submit it to the stores under your name and push updates after launch. Here is the path, and where the stores set the rules.
AppiOS · Android · simulated
Preview of the Northlight store app on a phone: a search field, a seasonal banner, category filters, a grid of bestsellers with photos and prices, and a native tab bar.
Northlight
v1.4.2 · build 87
- iOSApp StoreIn review
- AndroidGoogle PlayLive
- OTAOver-the-airRolled out
From editor to store
Six steps, two of them the stores'.
You control the first three and the last one. Review and release timing belong to Apple and Google.
Review times are set by the stores and vary. Other timings are placeholders.
Build in the editor
Minutes to hours
Your app is the same project as your website: same pages, products and checkout, laid out for a phone. Native pieces such as the tab bar, the push permission prompt and the app icon are settings, not code.
You seeDraft
Preview on your phone
Instant
Scan a code and the draft opens in the SparkIO preview app on your own phone, live, as you edit. Run checkout with test cards before anything is submitted.
You seePreview
Submit to the App Store and Google Play
≈ 10 minutes to package
When you press Submit we build the iOS and Android binaries, sign them with certificates we manage for you and upload them to your App Store Connect and Google Play accounts, with the listing, screenshots and privacy answers you filled in. The accounts are yours and the app is published under your name.
You seeSubmitted
Review
Usually days, set by the stores
Apple and Google review every new app and most updates against their guidelines. We prepare the submission to avoid the common rejections, but the decision and the timing are theirs. If a reviewer asks for changes, the note appears in your dashboard.
You seeIn review
Live
On approval, or on your date
Once approved, the app goes live immediately or on the release date you chose. The store links appear in your dashboard, and the install buttons on your website start pointing to them.
You seeLive
Over-the-air updates
Minutes, no store review
Changes to pages, products, prices and layout reach installed apps the next time they open, without a new store submission. Changes to native capabilities, such as a new permission or a new SDK, are a new binary and go through the stores again.
You seeUpdate rolled out
In-app checkout
In-app checkout and store rules.
Physical goods and services sold in your app use SparkIO checkout, exactly as on the web. Digital goods and subscriptions consumed inside the app are a different case: Apple and Google require their own in-app purchase systems for those, with their own fees and rules. We do not work around this, and you should plan for it.
- Physical products, bookings and services: SparkIO checkout in the app
- Digital content and subscriptions used in the app: Apple and Google in-app purchase, where their policies require it
- Exceptions, such as reader apps or external links, vary by region and change over time; check the current store guidelines
- Your website is not subject to store rules; the same checkout runs there without restriction
Checkout rulesNorthlight app · simulated
ItemPriceCheckout in the app
- SparkIO checkout
Studio Lamp
Physical product, shipped · $249.00
SparkIO checkout - SparkIO checkout
Desk Refill Club
Monthly box of physical goods · $18 / month
SparkIO checkout - Store in-app purchase
The calm desk, in five lessons
Video course, watched in the app · $49
Store in-app purchase - Store in-app purchase
Journal Plus
Digital subscription, read in the app · $4 / month
Store in-app purchase
The stores set these rules and change them. Exceptions vary by region; check the current guidelines.
Included in every app
The native parts, already wired.
Each of these is a setting in the editor and an event in the dashboard, with the same names as on the web.
Customer accounts
The same login as your website. Orders, subscriptions and saved cards follow the customer between web and app.
Offline cart
The catalog and the cart are cached on the device. Browsing works without signal; checkout waits for a connection.
Deep links
A link to a product or page opens the app when it is installed and the website when it is not. One URL, both destinations.
Analytics
Installs, sessions, screens and the checkout funnel in the dashboard, with the same event names as the web.
Crash reports
Native crashes are collected with the app version and device, grouped by cause, and shown next to the release they belong to.
Questions
Questions about the stores.
- Do I need my own Apple Developer and Google Play accounts?
- Yes. Both stores require the publisher to hold the account, and the app is published under your name. We walk you through creating them and connect them to your project once.
- Can I sell subscriptions inside the app?
- Yes, with a condition. Subscriptions to content used inside the app go through Apple's and Google's in-app purchase systems, as their policies require. Subscriptions to physical goods or services delivered outside the app use SparkIO checkout.
- What if a store rejects the app?
- You see the reviewer's note in the dashboard. Most rejections concern metadata, screenshots or a missing privacy answer; fix them and resubmit from the same screen. Questions about your business model are resolved between you and the store.
- Does every update need a new review?
- No. Content and layout changes ship over the air without review. Changes to native capabilities, such as new permissions or SDKs, produce a new binary and go through the stores again.
- Is the app code mine?
- The project, meaning pages, products and settings, is yours and exports as JSON. The native shell that renders it is SparkIO's and is maintained by us; you never touch an Xcode or Android Studio project.
Preview your app on your phone before lunch.
Build from your existing project; submit when you are ready.