Make your community app with BDK

Turn quiet members into daily ones. Your community becomes an iOS and Android app where members post photos and voice notes from the phone, pass a good thread to friends through the share sheet, and hear the moment someone replies, with the unread count waiting on the icon. Conversations keep moving after people close the tab, and your moderation rules stay in charge.

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Notification permission

Ask members about reply notifications once they have posted, not on first launch.

  • Ask a new member the first time someone replies to them.
  • Tell them it is for replies and mentions, nothing else.
  • Open notification settings for a member who said no the first time.
Try it in the demo app

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Camera and photos

Let members add photos from their phone to a post.

  • Choose photos for an event recap.
  • Add progress photos to a project thread.
  • Take a photo at a meetup and post it from there.
  • Put a new photo on a member profile.
Try it in the demo app

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Share sheet

Members send a thread worth reading to friends in the apps they already use.

  • Share a discussion link in a group chat.
  • Send an event invite to a friend who is not a member yet.
  • Share a photo post to another app the member uses.
Try it in the demo app

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Push notifications

Tell a member the moment someone answers their post.

  • Nudge a member when a thread they follow picks up again.
  • Alert a member when someone mentions them.
  • Open the thread at the new reply when the member taps.
  • Announce a new event to everyone in a group.
Try it in the demo app

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App icon badge

Show members on the app icon that replies are waiting.

  • Count unread replies and mentions on the icon.
  • Update the badge as members read conversations.
  • Clear the badge once the member has caught up.
Try it in the demo app

Five of 71 native capabilities

The five above are the ones this kind of app leans on most. Every build ships with the whole set. Scroll the strip for the rest.

  • In-app purchases
  • Native transitions
  • Modal sheetsNew
  • Face ID login
  • QR scannerNew
  • Sign in with AppleNew
  • Live locationNew
  • Deep linksNew
  • Incoming sharesNew
  • Saved loginNew
  • ContactsNew
  • Health dataNew
  • Audio playerNew
  • Voice recorderNew
  • Date-time pickerNew
  • Rating promptNew
  • Tracking promptNew
  • NFC scanNew
  • Push notificationsNew
  • Photo pickerNew
  • Share sheetNew
  • App badgeNew

All features are included when you request a build with BDK. See pricing

What you set up

  • Your Apple Developer and Google Play accounts.
  • Your own Firebase project's service-account key and a OneSignal app, for push.
  • Branch or Chottulink, if you want links that open the app.
  • Inbound sharing and file handling, if you accept shared files.

Where your web app stays in charge

  • Feed, groups, moderation and member permissions stay yours.
  • Paid memberships sold in-app use store billing where required.
  • Web updates go live without a rebuild when they use capabilities already in the app.
Can someone send content into my app?

Yes, when inbound sharing is enabled. Your app decides how it becomes a draft or post.

Does the unread badge work the same on Android?

No. Exact counts on iOS; Android reports an approximate active-notification count.

Who controls moderation?

You do. Your existing rules and tools stay in charge.

Explore next

Create your project, or open the demo app and run the features yourself.

Create your app See the demos View pricing

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