For most tanning salons, a web app is enough. It sits on your customer’s home screen with your icon, and they can add it at your desk without visiting a store. A store app is worth a look if you’ve got a real reason customers would hunt for you there, and the budget and patience to keep one going.
One thing to say first: the app we build today is a web app, so read this knowing that. App Store and Google Play options are on our roadmap. We also run three salons, so we’ve looked at this from behind the desk.
Side by side
| Web app | App Store or Google Play app | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting it | Scan a QR code, then add it to the home screen | Find it in the store and download it |
| Store account for customers | Not needed | Needed |
| Store fees | None | Apple’s 99 USD a year, Google’s US$25 one-off |
| Changes | Live for everyone once you publish | Apple reviews what goes in its store |
| Found through | Your QR code, your website, a link | Store search, as well as your own links |
| Push notifications | Possible, with limits on iPhone | Standard |
Those store fees come from Apple’s enrolment page and Google Play’s help pages, as of 30 October 2026. They cover being in the store. Building the app is a separate bill.
Apple’s rules catch out branded salon apps
This is the part most salon owners never get told. Apple’s App Review Guidelines say an app should go “beyond a repackaged website”. If it’s only your website in a wrapper, it may not be accepted.
They’re stricter still on templates: “Apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service will be rejected unless they are submitted directly by the provider of the app’s content.” In plain English, a template app with your logo on it has to go in under your own name, not the supplier’s. The other route Apple allows is one shared app that hosts lots of businesses, and then you aren’t really your own app any more.
So before anyone sells you “your own App Store app”, ask whose developer account it sits on, who pays for it each year, and what happens if Apple says no.
Where a web app falls short
It isn’t perfect, and you should know where.
- The last step is on the customer. They have to add it to their home screen, and some won’t bother. On an iPhone that means Safari’s Share button, then Add to Home Screen, which isn’t obvious. Show them at the desk.
- You won’t turn up in store search. If someone hunts for you in the App Store, they won’t find you. We’d be surprised if many do, but it’s worth knowing.
- Push has limits. iPhones added web push in iOS 16.4, and only for web apps already on the home screen. It’s on our roadmap, so it isn’t part of what we offer today.
What we’d do
Start with the job you want the app to do. For most salons that’s giving regulars a reason to come back: their account, your beds, your lotion wall and your offers, in your brand. A QR code at the desk and a member of staff who says “pop this on your phone” will do more than a listing nobody searches for. If rewards are the point, our loyalty ideas are a good place to start.
An app doesn’t replace the system that runs your salon either. Minutes, courses and bookings stay where they are, and our software guide explains where everything fits. If you’d like to see one working, have a look at our branded salon app.