How to Turn a Framer Website into an iOS and Android App (2026)

Framer doesn't build native apps — it publishes websites to a URL. There is no export-to-APK button and no App Store pipeline anywhere in the product. The fastest honest way to get a Framer site onto phones is to wrap the published URL in a native shell: paste it into a wrapper service like ours and you get a signed Android APK or AAB in a few minutes, with push notifications via OneSignal if you want them. On iOS, cloud .ipa builds — unsigned for you to re-sign with your own Apple certificate, or cloud-signed with a .p12 you upload — are Pro and up, and the zero-signing Web Clip covers everyone else.

That's the summary. The rest of this post is the Framer-specific detail: why your custom domain needs sorting beforeyou build, what actually happens to your animations inside a WebView, and an honest section on when you shouldn't do this at all.

Framer is web-only — and that's by design

Framer is arguably the best marketing-site tool on the market right now. You design on a freeform canvas, hit Publish, and the site is live — on a free yoursite.framer.website subdomain, or on a custom domain if you're on a paid plan. Designers ship portfolios, studios ship client marketing sites, startups ship launch pages. It's genuinely good at all of that.

What it does not do, anywhere, is produce a mobile app. There's no APK export, no Xcode project, no store submission flow. The Framer Preview apps you may have seen on the app stores are for previewing prototypes on your own device while designing — they are not a way to ship your site to users. Framer optimizes for the web, full stop.

The gap shows up the moment a client asks “can we get this as an app?” or a studio wants an app icon in the deliverables list. Google Play doesn't accept URLs — it accepts a compiled, signed AAB. That compile-and-sign step is the entire gap between your published Framer site and an installable app, and it's the step a wrapper pipeline automates.

Sort your domain out first — it matters more on Framer than anywhere else

Here's the mistake we see Framer users make: wrapping the free subdomain.

On Framer's free plan your site lives at yoursite.framer.website with a “Made in Framer” badge in the corner, and you can't connect a custom domain at all. A wrapper app points at one fixed URL for its entire life. Wrap the free subdomain and you've baked another company's hostname and badge into an app you're putting your name on — and if you ever rename that subdomain or move the site, every installed copy of your app breaks.

The fix costs about the price of lunch: Framer's Basic plan — $10/month billed annually since the October 2025 pricing overhaul, which retired the cheaper Mini tier — includes a free custom domain and removes the badge. Publish to yourdomain.com, then wrap that. Now the app follows the domain, not the platform: change Framer plans, restructure the site, or even leave Framer for another host years from now, and the installed apps keep working because the domain is the contract. This is the single highest-leverage decision in the whole process, and it happens before you touch our dashboard.

How the wrap actually works

Short version: our pipeline puts your published URL inside a native Android WebView shell, adds the native pieces — your icon, splash screen, package ID, and OneSignal push — and compiles and signs an APK/AAB in the cloud with a per-project keystore, usually in a few minutes. It is a wrapper of your hosted site, not a native rebuild: the app renders whatever is live at your URL, which is why republishing in Framer updates the app instantly. The full technical rundown lives in our docs.

What happens to your animations?

This is the question Framer designers actually care about, so let's be precise. The Android WebView is Chromium-based — the same engine family as mobile Chrome — so your scroll effects, appear animations, and interactive components render the way they already do in the mobile browser. If your site looks right in Chrome on a phone, it looks right in the app.

The honest caveat: a wrapper can't make your site faster than it is in mobile Chrome. Framer sites tend to be animation-heavy, and heavy effects can drop frames on cheap, low-RAM Android hardware. Your first build is free — install it on the weakest device you actually care about and scroll the whole site before you publish anything. If it stutters there, it stutters in mobile Chrome too, and the fix is trimming effects in Framer, not anything on the app side.

Step by step: Framer site to Google Play-ready app

1. Publish on a custom domain. Basic plan or higher, badge gone, DNS connected, site verified working in mobile Chrome — because that is exactly what the app will show.
2. Create a free account and paste your URL. No code export, no Framer login, no GitHub — the published URL is all we need.
3. Configure the shell. App name, package ID (e.g. com.yourstudio.portfolio), an app icon at least 512×512 (PNG — the wizard rejects anything smaller) — you presumably have strong brand assets already — and a splash screen.
4. Optional: wire up push. OneSignal integration is built in. For a marketing or portfolio site this is the one genuinely native feature worth having — new work, launches, and offers land on the home screen instead of dying in an inbox.
5. Build. The first build is free (with a watermark on the splash). You get a signed APK for testing and an AAB for Google Play, typically in a few minutes.
6. Test on a real device. Install the APK, tap through every page, check the back button, and check external links behave.
7. Publish to Google Play. A Play Console account is a $25 one-time fee; you upload the AAB under your own account and our docs walk through the listing. One Framer-specific note: if this is your first app on a brand-new personal Play account, Google requires a closed-testing phase with real testers before the app can go public — budget time for that, or use our $249 managed-testing add-on to have that stage handled for you.

iOS, honestly

Most Framer wraps ship Android-first, and there's a structural reason. Apple's App Store guideline 4.2 — “minimum functionality” — exists to reject apps that are essentially a repackaged website. A wrapped portfolio or marketing site is precisely that, and we'd rather you hear it from us than from an App Store rejection email three weeks in. Google Play is meaningfully more permissive about WebView apps, which is why the Android path above just works.

So on iOS there are three workable paths, cheapest first — one with zero signing, and two cloud .ipa routes that both sit on Pro and up:

• iOS Web Clip (zero signing). A tap-to-install home-screen icon that opens your site full screen. No certificate, no Apple Developer account, no review. For a portfolio or marketing site, this is genuinely the right iPhone answer most of the time.
• Unsigned .ipa (Pro and up). We build a real .ipa in the cloud on Apple silicon and hand it to you unsigned. You re-sign it with your own Apple Developer certificate ($99/year to Apple) and submit it yourself.
• Cloud signing with your own certificate (Pro and up). Upload your own .p12 and provisioning profile and we return a signed .ipa. It's still your certificate and still your submission — we never ask for your Apple ID and we don't submit to the App Store for you.

If your Framer site is a genuine web app — accounts, dashboards, real functionality — your App Store odds improve and the .ipa routes make sense. If it's a beautiful brochure, take the Web Clip and spend the $99 somewhere else.

Who this suits — and who it doesn't

A WebView wrapper is the right call if:

• You're a designer or studio that wants the portfolio installable on phones and tablets for pitches and presence.
• You're an agency adding “Android app” to a Framer site deliverable — the $199/month Agency tier covers 100 builds across unlimited client projects with white-label branding.
• Your site is content or marketing and push re-engagement is the actual goal.
• You want the app to mirror the site forever without rebuilds — republish in Framer, the app updates instantly.

It's the wrong call if:

• You need offline mode, native gestures, camera-first flows, or background processing. A wrapper is your website in a shell — it needs a connection and it behaves like the web.
• The “app” is actually a software product with heavy client-side logic. Build products as products.
• An App Store listing for a marketing site is non-negotiable — guideline 4.2 will likely stop you regardless of which wrapper you use.

And if you do outgrow the wrapper and rebuild the product properly: our cloud source builds currently cover Flutter, native Android, and Capacitor projects, while React Native, Ionic, and Expo source builds are waitlist-only today — worth knowing before you pick a rebuild stack around us.

Your realistic options, side by side

FAQ

Does Framer have a native mobile app export?

No. Framer is web-only: it designs and publishes responsive websites to a URL — a free framer.website subdomain or a custom domain on paid plans. There's no APK export, no Xcode project, no store submission flow. The Framer Preview mobile apps are for previewing prototypes on a device while you design — not for shipping to users. Getting a Framer site onto phones as an installable app means wrapping the published URL.

Do I need a paid Framer plan before wrapping my site?

Strongly recommended. The free plan can't connect a custom domain, so you'd be wrapping yoursite.framer.website — with Framer's badge — into an app that points at that URL forever. Since the October 2025 pricing overhaul retired the Mini tier, Basic ($10/month billed annually) is the entry paid plan, with a free custom domain and no badge. Wrap the custom domain and the app survives any future platform or plan change.

Do Framer animations and interactions work inside the Android app?

Yes — the Android WebView is Chromium-based, the same engine family as mobile Chrome, so scroll effects and interactions render as they do in the mobile browser. The caveat: the app can't be faster than your site is in mobile Chrome, and animation-heavy pages can drop frames on cheap low-RAM phones. Test the free first build on the weakest device you care about.

Will Apple approve a wrapped Framer site in the App Store?

Usually not, and we'd rather say so up front. Apple's guideline 4.2 rejects apps that are essentially a repackaged website, which is what a wrapped marketing site is. The realistic iPhone answer for most Framer sites is a Web Clip; the realistic store presence is Google Play, which accepts WebView apps. If your site is a genuine web app with real functionality, App Store odds improve — cloud iOS .ipa builds (unsigned, or signed with a .p12 you upload) are available on Pro and up, and the submission is always yours, under your own Apple account. We never ask for your Apple ID.

Does the app update when I republish in Framer?

Yes, instantly. The app loads your live site, so every Publish in Framer reaches installed phones immediately — no rebuild, no store review. You only rebuild when the native shell changes: icon, app name, package ID, or push configuration.

What does it cost end to end?

Two subscriptions and one fee. Framer: Basic at $10/month billed annually covers the custom domain. Code2Native prices by build credits: the first build costs nothing (one credit, watermarked splash), then Starter is $29/month for 10 credits ($290/year), Pro is $99/month for 30 credits plus cloud iOS builds ($990/year), and Agency is $199/month for 100 credits with white-label branding and Windows EXE builds ($1,690/year). A failed build refunds its credit automatically, a $49 add-on jumps a build to the front of the queue, and we accept Stripe or USDT — the full breakdown is on our pricing page. Google Play's developer account is a separate $25 one-time fee.