BDK Native
- iOS + Android apps$99
Total, once$99
1 build + 4 rebuilds, the rebuilds banked for 12 months
The apps are yours for good. No renewal.
Introductory pricing, valid until Thanksgiving.
For WordPress sites
Put your WordPress site in the App Store and Google Play
Try a sample purchase, the camera, a deep link, Face ID and push on your own phone, free, while you build in WordPress. Pay once when it's right.
- Free on your phone first, before you pay and before an Apple developer account.
- $99 once for both apps. No monthly fee.
- Nothing to lapse. Your app keeps working.
Sample products in Preview. Your own products in your build.
All five run in the free BDK Preview app.
Keep your WordPress admin and hosting private. BDK needs just your site's address. On iPhone, BDK Preview opens your own previews.
Try it on your phone first.
Natively's own docs say in-app purchases, deep links, the camera and audio don't work in their preview app. All four run in BDK Preview, free, on your own phone (purchases with sample products).
What you can test in each service's free preview, before you pay. From each company's own docs, as of October 29, 2026.
BDK Preview next to Natively Preview.
 BDK Preview | Natively Preview | Median | Despia | MobiLoud | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Push notifications | Yes¹ | Yes | No shared preview app. You test in a browser simulator, where some native features can't be tested, or in a watermarked build of your own app. | No shared preview app. You test free watermarked builds of your own app. | Their team arranges a preview of your site before purchase. Native-feature testing on a phone isn't documented. |
| Camera | Yes² | No | |||
| Record and play audio | Yes² | No | |||
| Deep links | Yes³ | No | |||
| In-app purchases | Sample products⁴ | No | |||
| Face ID / fingerprint | Yes² | Not documented | |||
| Google / Apple sign-in | Shows the hand-off⁵ | No (social login) | |||
| Your own loading screen | Yes⁶ | No (custom loading screen) | |||
| Needs an Apple developer account to try on iPhone? | No (public TestFlight)⁷ | No (App Store) | Yes ($99 a year) | Yes ($99 a year) | Not documented |
✗ where their docs say it doesn't work. “Not documented” means we found nothing either way. Sources below.
- Push in BDK Preview runs on BDK's own keys; your own OneSignal and Firebase keys are used in your build.
- Phone features that need no account of your own run in Preview, as they will in your build.
- Deep links in Preview run through BDK's Branch / ChottuLink setup, under BDK's branding.
- Purchases in Preview use BDK's sample products; your own products work in your own build.
- BDK Preview can show the hand-off, but it doesn't prove your store app's Google or Apple sign-in setup.
- Your loading screen, in Preview. Your own icon shows in your build.
- On iPhone, BDK Preview opens your own previews. It doesn't prove store review.
Sources, as of October 29, 2026 (15)
Pay once. Not every month.
Like buying a bike instead of renting one every month. BDK is one payment; a wrapper subscription keeps charging.
One payment
If you stop paying: There's nothing to stop. No subscription, no banner, no kill switch. Your app keeps working.
Natively Unlimited, monthly
- Month 1$49
- Month 2$49
- Month 3$49past BDK
So far$147
Or Lifetime, paid once$699
and every month after
Yearly, $384, passes BDK on the first payment.
If you stop paying: Their FAQ says a blocking banner covers the app until you reactivate.
Prices from each company's pricing page as of October 29, 2026; BDK prices as of October 19, 2026. Apple ($99 a year) and Google ($25 once) charge for their own developer accounts with every service. Median: $229 activation, then $179 a year on Starter; its free tier is for limited use.See pricing
Yours to keep.
Your own listing.
Published from your own Apple and Google accounts. Ratings, reviews and installs are yours.
The Android signing key.
It comes with every Android build.
Go fully native later.
When it pays, your team can build a fully native app. It can ship as an update to the same listing: same name, same reviews.
Point the app at a new address from your BDK dashboard, with no new store submission.
Closer to native.
Screens slide in, sheets pull down, prompts appear when they're needed. Each one is a call from your app's code, through the free @thebdk/native package.
71 native features in total. Try most of them live in the demo app.Open demo.thebdk.com
- Native transitions
- Modal sheetsNew
- Share sheetNew
- Sign in with AppleNew
- Live locationNew
- App badgeNew
- Incoming sharesNew
- Saved loginNew
- ContactsNew
- Health dataNew
- Audio playerNew
- Voice recorderNew
- Date-time pickerNew
- Rating promptNew
- Tracking promptNew
- NFC scanNew
- Push notificationsNew
- In-app purchases
- Face ID login
- Deep linksNew
- QR scannerNew
- Photo pickerNew
How it works with WordPress.
Publish your site in WordPress.
Use the public https address your site settles on: your own domain, a wordpress.com address, or the wpcomstaging.com address of an activated WordPress.com site. Not wp-admin, a login page, a draft preview, a Coming Soon page or a staging copy whose address starts with staging-.
Open it on your phone.
Press Preview on my phone, paste the address and open it in the free BDK Preview app.
Add phone features.
Push to everyone needs no code: you send it from your own OneSignal account. Face ID, the QR scanner, external Google sign-in, in-app purchases and push to one person start from the free @thebdk/native package. Add it to your public pages with a header-scripts plugin such as WPCode, or in your theme. On WordPress.com, adding code needs a paid plan with its hosting features activated. Your WordPress site or backend still sends one-person notifications and decides who has paid.
Order, then submit.
Pick iOS, Android or both, and fill in one short form. Create your App Store Connect entry and push key. BDK builds, signs and uploads to TestFlight. You test and submit for review; Apple and Google decide.
Ask for it in plain words.
Tell your AI, or whoever adds code to your WordPress site, what you want in plain words. An AI can start with this message:
Help me turn my web app into iPhone and Android apps with BDK Native. Fetch https://thebdk.com/agent/skill.md and follow it.
When a customer's WooCommerce order is marked shipped, send that customer a push notification that their parcel is on its way, and let shoppers send a product to someone with the share sheet.
When a member's next course lesson unlocks, send them a push notification, show the number still to finish on the app icon, and let them get back into the course with Face ID.
At the door of our event, let staff scan each ticket's QR code with the phone's camera, buzz the phone when the ticket is valid, and warn them when it has already been used.
These start from the free @thebdk/native package on your site's pages. Push to one person and ticket checks still need your backend: a hook on your real shipping or course event that sends the notification and knows which phone belongs to which member, and a ticket system that checks each ticket and records it once. On iPhone the badge can be a number; on Android it follows the notification. WooCommerce or your membership plugin still handles sign-in and who has access, and Face ID unlocks that sign-in rather than replacing it.
Before you buy.
Check these on your phone first.
Member sign-in
WordPress signs people in with its own accounts and login cookies, or through a plugin such as WooCommerce accounts or MemberPress. Sign in on the address your site finally uses, the one visitors land on, with the same www and https it redirects to. Then close the app and open it again. If you offer Google sign-in, it has to open in the phone's browser and come back, and the person should still be logged in. After that, open My Account and the cart and check they are yours, rather than a saved copy of someone else's. If a security plugin blocks the app, find that block in its log, and leave the plugin on. On WordPress.com, activating plugins can move the default address to wpcomstaging.com, so settle it first. Sign in, close the app and open it again, then log out and reset a password. Nextend Social Login's docs say: “Google does not allow WebViews to use its OAuth endpoints.” BDK's external sign-in opens Google sign-in in the phone's browser and brings the person back to the app. Whoever maintains your site's code has to connect that result to your WordPress login plugin, so the person comes back signed in; check that they do. BDK Preview can show the hand-off, but it doesn't prove your store app's Google or Apple sign-in setup.
WooCommerce checkout and paid access
Walk through a guest checkout and a returning customer's checkout, then a cancelled payment, and check you land back in the app with the cart and the order intact. If checkout shows Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link, PayPal, Klarna, or Amazon Pay, tap each one on both phones. Stripe's docs for its Express Checkout block say Apple Pay can work inside an iPhone app, Google Pay depends on the setup, and Link, PayPal, Klarna, and Amazon Pay are unsupported in that block. A different Stripe checkout can behave differently, so keep this list tied to that block, and rely on the tap test. Physical goods and real-world services, including real-world subscriptions like a gym or a meal kit, generally keep your web checkout. Digital things used in the app, like credits or a digital subscription, generally must use Apple's and Google's in-app purchases. That's the stores' rule, not BDK's. Selling membership or course access to use in the app is usually the digital kind. BDK's in-app purchase helpers start those flows; you set up the products, and your membership plugin or backend decides who has paid. In BDK Preview, purchases run against BDK's own sample products; your own products work in your own build.
Caching and security plugins
Log in, then check you see your own account and cart, not a cached copy. WooCommerce and MemberPress both document keeping cart, checkout, My Account and login pages out of the cache.
Your phone-feature code
Load the @thebdk/native package on your public pages, not in wp-admin. Speed-optimization plugins and cookie-consent tools can stop that phone-feature code from loading, so ask whoever maintains your site to check they don't block it. Then publish, open the site in BDK Preview and try each phone feature, go to another page and try them again.
Links from your emails
Tap a password-reset link and an order email from your inbox on the phone and see where each one lands: in the app, or in the phone's browser. For links that open the installed app, set up deep links with Branch or ChottuLink before you order the build.
BDK Preview runs your real site, so what works there is strong evidence. It doesn't prove your store app's sign-in or push setup, or how store review will go, and its purchases use BDK's sample products.
What WordPress says about its own apps. WordPress's own phone apps are for managing your site; we found no WordPress.com plan that publishes your site as a store app of its own.
What WordPress says
WordPress.com offers its own free WordPress and Jetpack apps for iOS and Android, to write posts, manage pages, media and comments, and change settings. Its mobile guide says the app is “designed for managing your site, not for browsing it.”
WordPress.com says: “Installing plugins is available on all WordPress.com paid plans.” Adding your own code needs a paid plan with its hosting features activated, and activating them can move the site's default address to a wpcomstaging.com domain. WordPress's editor docs say its Mobile view is there to “look at different screen widths.”
Self-hosted WordPress from WordPress.org is free software that runs on hosting you choose, with your own themes and plugins.
Why keep your web app
As of October 30, 2026, we found no WordPress.com plan that publishes your site as its own App Store or Google Play app; the WordPress and Jetpack apps manage your site. A separate native app built on the WordPress REST API is a real route, but it means a second set of screens, sign-in and releases next to your site. BDK packages the site you already have: the app opens your theme, your WooCommerce checkout and your member pages, so there is one site to keep up, and you get signed builds for both stores.
The editor's Mobile view shows your pages at phone width in a browser. It's a web preview, not an app, so native push, Face ID, links that open an app and store purchases aren't part of it. BDK Preview opens your published site on your own phone as an app, free, with push, Face ID, deep links and sample purchases. It uses BDK's keys and sample products, so your own setup still gets tested in your build.
Be honest about what the app adds. A brochure site gives people little reason to install, and Apple's minimum-functionality guideline asks for an app that goes “beyond a repackaged website”. The WordPress sites that make sense as apps are the ones people come back to: a membership or community, a WooCommerce store with repeat customers, news, recipes or podcasts that update often, a course, a directory people search. The native features are the reason to install: a push when an order ships or a new lesson is out, Face ID back into the member area, a ticket scanner at the door.
Your WordPress hosting is a cost either way. As of October 30, 2026, WordPress.com's Free plan publishes on a wordpress.com address without plugins, and Personal, the first paid plan, adds your own domain and plugins for $9 monthly or $4 a month billed annually ($48 a year). Self-hosted WordPress is free software on hosting you pay for. On top of that, BDK is one payment, with no monthly fee to keep paying.
Test, launch and improve with real users on BDK first. Once the app has traction, a fully native version you sign and submit for this same app can ship as an update to the same store listing: same name, same reviews, and your users simply get an update. The Android signing key comes with your BDK build.
Your WordPress site, its content, members and orders stay where they are, on WordPress.com or your own hosting. If you later move the site to a new host or domain, point the app at the new address from your BDK dashboard.
What you need.
- Your site, published and public, at the exact address it redirects to: https, with or without www as your site uses. A wordpress.com address works; your own domain is optional.
- An Apple Developer account for iOS and a Google Play developer account for Android, in your own name.
- For iOS: create your App Store Connect entry and push key. BDK builds, signs and uploads to TestFlight. You test and submit for review; Apple and Google decide.
- No access to your WordPress admin, your hosting or your database. BDK needs just the address.
- For push notifications, which are on unless you switch them off: your own OneSignal account (the free tier works) and Firebase project. Switching push off or back on is a new build you submit again.
- For other phone features, the free @thebdk/native package on your site's public pages, added with a header-scripts plugin or your theme. On WordPress.com, that needs a paid plan with plugins and its hosting features activated.
$69 for iOS, $69 for Android, or $99 for both, paid once. Introductory pricing, valid until Thanksgiving. Each purchase includes one build and four banked rebuilds; the rebuilds expire 12 months from payment. Extra rebuilds are $19 and also expire 12 months from payment. Changes to your site never need one. Apple ($99 a year) and Google ($25 once) charge for their own developer accounts.
Prices as of .See pricing
Questions
What does BDK Native do with a WordPress site?
BDK Native turns your published WordPress site into real iOS and Android apps for your own App Store and Google Play accounts. The apps load your live site, on WordPress.com or your own hosting, so you keep working in WordPress and every change you publish shows up in the app, with no store update. Try it free on your phone first in the BDK Preview app, before you pay anything.
How do I turn my WordPress site into an iOS and Android app?
Publish it and give BDK the public address your site settles on: your own domain, a wordpress.com address or an activated site's wpcomstaging.com address, not a wp-admin link or a draft preview. Try it free in the BDK Preview app on your phone. When it works the way you want, order a build: BDK makes signed iOS and Android apps, and you submit them from your own Apple and Google developer accounts. Self-hosted or WordPress.com both work; on WordPress.com, adding phone-feature code needs a paid plan with plugins.
Isn't the WordPress app the same thing?
No. The WordPress and Jetpack apps are WordPress.com's own apps for running your site: writing posts, managing pages and comments, checking stats. Its mobile guide says the app is designed for managing your site, not for browsing it. BDK builds and signs iOS and Android apps of your own site, for your own store listing, which you submit from your own developer accounts; Apple and Google decide. You can keep using the WordPress app to manage the site.
Will Apple accept my WordPress site as an app?
Nobody can promise that: Apple and Google decide. Apple's minimum-functionality guideline pushes back on apps that add little beyond a website, and a brochure site with a few pages is the clearest case. WordPress sites people come back to are a stronger fit: memberships and communities, WooCommerce stores, news and recipes that update often, courses and directories. Give people a reason to install, like a push when an order ships, Face ID back into their account or a ticket scanner at the door. BDK's native features exist for that.
Will my changes in WordPress show up in the app?
Yes. The app loads your live site, so new posts, products and pages you publish show up in the installed apps right away, with no store update. If a caching plugin or your host serves an older copy, the app shows that copy too, so clear the cache as you would for the website. The app itself needs a rebuild when you change what is built into it: its icon or name, the three screens, orientation, permission text, push or deep-link settings, or background audio. You also need one for a newer BDK engine, or when Apple or Google require a new build.
Will my members' logins and Google sign-in work in the app?
Test them in BDK Preview before you buy: sign in, close the app, open it again, then log out and reset a password. The app opens your live site, so WooCommerce accounts, MemberPress or your own login plugin keep the same users; BDK doesn't move or copy them. Use your final https address, with the same www choice your site redirects to, so login cookies stick. Google doesn't allow its sign-in page inside an app's embedded browser, so Google sign-in has to open in the phone's browser and return to the app. BDK's external sign-in does that hand-off through the free @thebdk/native package. Whoever maintains your site's code has to connect the result to your WordPress login plugin, so the person comes back signed in. BDK Preview can show the hand-off, but it doesn't prove your store app's Google or Apple sign-in setup.
Can I keep selling with WooCommerce and Stripe in the app?
For physical goods and real-world services, including real-world subscriptions like a gym or a meal kit, yes: your WooCommerce checkout is the right path, and it's the same page inside the app. Digital things used in the app, like credits or a digital subscription, generally must use Apple's and Google's in-app purchases, and selling membership or course access to use in the app usually counts. That's the stores' rule, not BDK's. BDK's in-app purchase helpers start those flows; you create the products in App Store Connect and Google Play Console, and your membership plugin or backend decides who has paid. In BDK Preview, purchases run against BDK's own sample products; your own products work in your own build. Check each wallet button on both phones too: Stripe's own docs mark some express checkout wallets as unsupported in web views.
How is BDK different from other app wrappers?
BDK is a one-time payment: $99 for both platforms, with no subscription. As of October 29, 2026, Natively's Unlimited plan is $384 a year or $49 a month ($699 once for Lifetime), Despia's Hybrid Pack is $498 one-time, and MobiLoud's Growth plan is $679 a month billed annually. Natively Preview excludes in-app purchases, deep links, the camera and audio; Median and Despia have no shared preview app. Despia offers free watermarked builds; on iPhone those need your own Apple developer account and signing. Prices change, so check each company's pricing page.
Last updated
See your own app on your phone, free, before you pay anything.